Terrorist attack by Al-Shabaab in Nairobi, Kenya has claimed
lives of individual leaving some injured while others run for safety.
Western and regional security officials have said that
Intelligence services in Kenya were warned that Al-Shabaab was planning
terrorist attacks on high-profile targets in the east African country around
Christmas and the new year.
Officials and other sources made it known that the warnings
had been passed on several times in recent months, adding that they had been
frustrated by not seeing a greater reaction from Kenyan authorities.
A Kenyan intelligence official said information given by
security partners about the planned attacks lacked details but that the country
had been on high alert since November.
Another security source said that the terrorist had confused
security officials by changing target locations.
However, hotels, restaurant and office complex in Naroibi
have been cleared by security forces.
Experts said the attack on Wednesday was designed to attract
media attention.
Hussein Sheikh-Ali, a former national security adviser in
Somalia and chairman of the Hiraal Institute, a Mogadishu-based research centre
said “A terror attack is … purely media theatre. The number of casualties is
not the primary objective. It is to attack a high-profile target, especially
where westerners are going to be so the west is interested”.
He added that “This [recent] Nairobi attack is a response
first and foremost to the airstrikes. They are sending a message that the US
strikes have not degraded them as the US military and some media have claimed.
They are saying ‘we are in business’.
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