Kenyan Police warn of Al-Shabaab attacks during Ramadhan

Police officers have urged residents of Mombasa, Malindi and Nairobi to be vigilant after intelligence reports showed that the al Shabaab terror group are planning to carry out attacks during Ramadan.

In a statement, Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet said that the joint security agency networks had noticed several attempts by the terror group to stage attacks in Mandera and Wajir counties.

He said they are monitoring Al-Shabaab activities across the border in Somalia and their attempts to enter the country.

Boinnet said the areas along the Kenya -Somalia border is at higher risk for such attacks.

“The terrorists may masquerade as herders looking for pasture or refugees with the aim of entering the country,” Boinnet said.”

“We, therefore, call upon all upon all citizens, more so, communities who reside within these border regions to be on the lookout for such individuals and to promptly inform the security agencies,” Boinnet added.

Police said Boni Forest and its environs, Kiunga, Mandera, Wajir, Ijara and Garissa are the most at-risk areas.

An explosion targeting a police car in Mandera last week is an indication of the planned attacks, the police also said.

Al-Shabaab group lost one of its Kenyan commanders, Mohammed Dulyadayn, alias Kuno, was killed in an air strike in earlier last week.

He was the commander of Al-Shabaab activities in the Juba region of Somalia and was also in charge of recruitment in northeastern Kenya.

Kuno, also known as Gamadhere, had a Sh5 million bounty put on his head for masterminding the Garissa University College terror attack in which 148 people, most of them students, were killed on April 2 last year.