Kenya – (warsoor) – More troops will be deployed along the Kenya- Somalia border to deal with Islamic state and Al Shabaab threats in the Country.
Chief of Defence Forces General Samson Mwathethe says additional military personnel will specifically be dispatched along the Mandera -Lamu border since it is prone to terrorist attacks posed by the terror groups.
Speaking during the 5th Kenya Defence Force celebrations at the Navy base in Mtongwe within Mombasa County, he pointed out that the establishment of border command centre along the borders has boosted surveillance.
“As KDF we shall continue to support the National Police Service and other national security organs in the maintenance of law. Additional deployment to secure our border will continue to be undertaken,” he asserted.
“Static, mobile road blocks and check points will continue to be mounted to prevent the movement of ISIS, Al Shabaab and other terror groups into our country.”
He said the newly proposed border command unit will play a major role in securing the porous Kenya-Somalia border.
He has however reiterated that Kenya troops under the African Union Mission to Somalia will not withdraw from Somalia until the country is secure.
He urged Kenyans to give support to all security agencies in the country, specifically through intelligence sharing.
“We shall continue to put our lives on line first ready at all time to pay the ultimate price for the defence of our country,” he said.
Defence Cabinet Secretary Raychelle Omamo on her part said KDF has managed to liberate over 20 towns that were under control of Al Shabaab for the last four years since their incursion into Somalia in 2011.
Though KDF has really advanced against the terror groups, they have not left without a dent.
Early this year, Al Shabaab militia attacked a Kenyan company of around 150 Kenyan soldiers that was stationed at the El-Adde base using explosive-laden vehicles.
The attack was at least the third major assault on isolated AU bases in the last year.
In September 2015, Al Shabaab fighters stormed a Ugandan AMISOM base in Janale district, 80 kilometres (50 miles) southwest of Mogadishu in the Lower Shabelle region.
And in June 2015, Al Shabaab killed dozens of Burundian soldiers when they overran an AMISOM outpost northwest of Mogadishu.
The Al Shabaab, fighting to overthrow Somalia’s internationally-backed and AU-protected government, has lost much territory in Somalia but continues to launch attacks there as well as in Kenya, killing at least 67 people at Nairobi’s Westgate Mall in 2013 and massacring 148 people at a university in Garissa last April.
Source: Capital FM