Kenya: Four Abducted In Suspected al-Shabab Attack
On Tuesday, Kenya police reported that suspected al-Shabab militants abducted four people in the northeastern county of Mandera, near the country's border with Somalia, including two paramedics, an ambulance driver, and a patient.
Facts
- On Tuesday, Kenya police reported that suspected al-Shabab militants abducted four people in the northeastern county of Mandera, near the country's border with Somalia, including two paramedics, an ambulance driver, and a patient.
- The ambulance was reportedly heading to Elwak hospital for referral with a patient accompanied by hospital staff when attackers ambushed and carjacked it, driving towards Somalia. They aren't in communication now due to network issues.
- This comes as the Somali government has launched an "all-out war" against the Islamist militants. On Saturday, al-Shabab claimed responsibility for twin bombings that killed at least 121 people in the country's capital, Mogadishu.
- Mandera County Commissioner Onesmus Kyatha said that the Somali government was alerted and requested to help rescue the Kenyans, which have been identified as 40-year-old patient Moulid Abdi, driver Hassan Shaaban, and Lafey hospital staff Abdirashid Billow Hussein and Aden Dai.
- While the frequency and severity of al-Shabab attacks in Kenya have fallen in recent years, they have targeted security personnel, schools, vehicles, towns and telephone infrastructure in the past to pressure the country's forces to withdraw from Somalia.
- Mandera residents near the Somali border have continued to report sightings of armed militants crossing the border, with a student injured last week after suspected al-Shabaab militants hurled explosives into a school in the area.
Sources: Al Jazeera, Reuters, VOA, and Nation.
Narratives
- Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Rise to Peace. Just like ISIS, the goal of al-Shabab — which has grown from hundreds of militants to thousands — is to create an Islamic State in Somalia. Without continued support from the West and Somalia's neighbors, some estimate the group's violent attacks will increase by over 70%. They aren't just a threat to Somalia, but to its Western and African allies. More must be done to counter them.
- Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by The Grayzone. After a little-known brief period of peace and prosperity, the 2006 US and UK-backed Ethiopian invasion of Somalia is what really created modern-day al-Shabab. In pursuit of expanding its military presence everywhere, the West — with Pres. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as its proxy — has yet again helped cause the problems it's now trying to "fix." The last thing needed is more Western meddling.
