Tag: Al-Shabaab
Al-Shabaab Kills Private Military Contractor in Roadside Explosion
Al Shabaab has claimed responsibility for targeting the elite US-trained Danab force in a roadside explosion about 110 km southwest of Mogadishu on Sunday. The attack killed a French national working with Bancroft Global Development, an American private military company. Two other contractors with the company were injured, as well as two senior Somali Brigade […]
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US demands right to attack Islamist fighters gaining foothold in Kenya – The Times of London
America is seeking clearance to launch drone strikes against Islamic militants operating in Kenya, according to Pentagon sources, as part of efforts to counter jihadists’ growing reach into Africa.
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2 Men Found Guilty of Aiding in 2013 Kenya Mall Attack
The timing of this verdict is interesting given the imminent US presidential election.Since the attack in 2013 the Kenya and US govs have presented zero evidence (to the public anyway) that any of the four attackers as seen on CCTV were killed. If there were (DNA evidence) the Kenya gov would have been reminding us […]
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Why is the U.S. Military Authority Seeking to Expand its Counterterrorism Drone War to Kenya?
The New York Times has reported that the U.S. military aims to broaden its counterterrorism drone war in Kenya. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/15/us/politics/shabab-drone-authorities-kenya.html#click=https://t.co/Lam9HALEWU Why now?A couple of things come to mind; damage control (publicity) ahead of presidential elections, and competition with China’s expanding military footprint in Africa.Seems to me that the US conducting drone strikes inside Kenya is […]
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Notes on the abduction and ransom of Sylvia Aisha Romano
While a ransom was paid to Al-Shabaab, the militant group may not have been aid worker Sylvia Aisha Romano original captors in Malindi two years ago. Reports have suggested that Kenya Wildlife Service personnel were arrested in their connection with the abduction and that they hid the aid worker in the vast and dense Boni […]
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Best and worst of 2019 – 1
January 2019 did not kick off to a good start for me. I couldn’t walk, for one thing. The previous November I fell hard on my knee, not realising I’d torn my meniscus–a cartilage that acts as a cushion between the tibia and femur. Instead of getting an MRI when in Nairobi, where I fell, […]
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Thoughts on dusitD2 2 Attack
On January 15th, 2019, I flew from Nairobi to Lamu, where I’ve been living for some time. While waiting for my luggage I chatted with a fellow passenger, a young Somali who told mehe was working in the gas fields of Pate Island. We noted the gains Kenya has made in recent years in security and theuptick in international tourism. Other […]
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Unintended Consequences: A Fitness App Reveals a Secret US Military Base in Kenya
Fitness tracking Strava App reveals outlines of secret US bases (because people jog around the perimeter) around the world and as well as potentially sensitive information about military personnel on active duty. Here’s what US Forward Operating Base Camp Simba in Lamu County, Kenya looks like. The long vertical line in red is Camp Simba’s […]
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Alternet : ‘Death Squads in Kenya’s Shadow War against al-Shabaab’
‘The goal of the extrajudicial executions, according to Kiser, is to “exterminate and intimidate people believed to be associated with the Al Shabaab movement in neighboring Somalia.” Religious leaders told Kiser that Kenyan security forces “are targeting them unfairly for persecution if not indeed for summary execution,” though local authorities say they have intelligence linking imams to al-Shabaab’
