Fighting Terror
"I know we are all under a lot of pressure, but I appeal to each one of us: This is not a time to be cowed by the enemy."
"This is a war we must win. We will not flinch or relent in the war against terrorism in our country and our region."
"The obvious intent is to create hostility and suspicion across ethnic and religious lines and to drive non-Muslims from certain parts of this country. The ultimate aim of this atrocious campaign is to establish an extremist caliphate in our region."
President Uhuru Kenyatta, Nairobi, Kenya
The scene at the Mandera quarry [The Kenya Star] Another country heard from, reeling under yet another onslaught from al-Qaeda franchise Al Shabab. Just as the terrorist group did in their well-orchestrated attack on the Westgate Mall that reaped them a harvest of 67 slaughtered civilians last year, passengers on a bus and then workers in a quarry were singled out for death if they were unable to quote a significant passage from the Koran proving their identity as Muslims.
Not that being a Muslim is a life-saver for many whom jihadist terrorists target regardless of their worship of Islam. Sectarian murder is just as vital to the message of terrorist groups as the slaughter of non-Muslims, after all. In the attack on the bus 28 people unable to satisfy proof of Islamic devotion were killed. The more recent attack, ten days on, targeted a sleeping work crew at a quarry in the dead of night.
Any of the confused and frightened workers who were unable to quote the Shahada forfeited their lives to the sanctimonious barbarism of Al Shabab, more than meeting their quota for the night in methodically shooting 36 men in the back of the head. The terrorist group strikes Kenya in revenge for advancing troops into Somalia, where Al Shabab plans to extend its rule into a caliphate.
Somalia government and African Union troops imposed a significant setback to those plans in October. The month previous, their spiritual leader, if such an oxymoron can be appreciated, Ahmed Abdi Godane, fell to an American air strike. Sheik Ali Mohamud Rage, aptly named as the Al-Shabab spokesman, called the latest attack a response to Kenya's troops deployed to Somalia in 2011.
Moreover, rage among Al-Shabab had to be vented because a recent airstrike in Somalia had - get this - killed innocent people and destroyed their property. President Kenyatta responded to the latest attacks by firing his interior minister to replace him with a retired army general, more suited to the task than the former hotelier. The resignation of the country's police chief was also accepted. Nigeria should sit up and take notice with their Boko Haram jihadis.
Mr. Kenyatta was responding to public pressure insisting the two security officials be replaced. He spoke of the success of the Kenyan military incursion in Somalia, with a partially defeated al-Shebab in retreat. Remaining, however, enough of an ongoing threat to mount viciously effective and deadly ambushes such as those occurring in the past two weeks.
"I am worried that this may get out of hand. They can be so emboldened because they are meeting no resistance and decide to take over a town", said a local senator of the jihadis who "want to create chaos in the country by creating divisions between Muslim and Christians". The government mission now is to not only aid a neighbour in defeating the jihadist group but respond forcefully on its entry into Kenya and defeat it on home turf as well.
Labels: Atrocities, Conflict, Defence, Jihadists, Kenya
posted by Pieface @ Thursday, December 04, 2014
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