The U.S. military has confirmed that there has been a terror attack on a military base in Kenya that houses some U.S. military personnel. The Somali terror group al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for the attack that Kenyan authorities said had been repelled with four militants killed in the fighting.
A military base in Lamu county in Kenya that is used by both the countries the United States of America and Kenyan forces was attacked by Somalia’s Islamist group al Shabaab on Sunday according to the sources and U. S. Military and military leadership has confirmed the attack.
“They have attacked Manda airstrip in Lamu, which is just next to the military camp that hosts military personnel from many countries including Kenya and the USA. We are informed that fighting is still ongoing,” as of Sunday morning the US Pacific times.
The source added that fighters were trying to access the base from the airstrip. The attack sent a dark plume of smoke into the air, said witness Abdallah Barghash. He was among the crowds watching the drama unfold on Manda Island from neighbouring Lamu Island, a top tourist destination.
Witnesses reported hearing gunfires and seeing plumes of black smoke emerging from Camp Simba in the early hours of Sunday of Keyan time. Kenya’s military said troops had driven out the insurgents from the base. Al-Shabab is linked to al-Qaeda and has its headquarters in neighbouring Somalia and in some other countries.
The group has carried out a spate of attacks in the region since it was formed more than a decade ago. On 28 December, 2019 about 80 people were killed in a truck bombing in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu.
According to the reports and witnesses that two flying machines, two US helicopters and numerous vehicles were devastated at the airstrip. Al-Shabab said there were “extreme losses on both American and Kenyan soldiers positioned there”, however, U.S. and Kenyan forces did not report of any casualties and the AFRICOM statement called the Al-Shabab report an exaggeration.
Al-Shabab has been targeting Kenya by string of attacks. Recently, it attempted multiple ambushes on passenger buses travelling in the region close to the Somali border. Last Saturday, the group bombed a busy intersection in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, killing at least 80 people. In the eves of last year, 2019, Al-Shabab staged its most daring attack on Kenyan soil in half a decade when multiple gunmen stormed a luxury hotel and office complex in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, holding it in a 20-hour siege in which at least 21 civilians were killed.
The group seeks to impose a strict version of Islamic law and to expel foreign troops from the country. In addition to about 500 U.S. personnel in Somalia, the African Union sponsors a coalition of about 20,000 troops, mostly from Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda.
The U.S. military has led a largely aerial campaign against Al-Shabab for the better part of the last decade. In 2017, President Trump loosened the U.S. military’s rules of engagement in Somalia, allowing for greater offensive use of force. Since then, the U.S. military has ramped up drone strikes, and carried out a record 63 strikes in 2019, in which it claimed to kill hundreds of Al-Shabab fighters.
According to reports by Kenyan police officials, five suspects have been arrested after the attack. About 500 U.S. troops are stationed inside Somalia assisting and advising that country’s military in its fight against the terror group.
