Garden City, T-Mall Among Most Targeted Areas By Al-Shabab

Police officers in Nairobi have called for a watch out in some areas in the city believed to be targeted by the Al-Shabaab Militants for possible attack this festive season.

Among the areas listed are the Presbyterian Guest House and Conference Centre in South C, Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Church in South B, Nairobi West Mall, Capital Centre, Garden City, and T-Mall.

In an internal Memo, Makadara sub-county police commander Timon Odingo said the group may also be targeting other guest houses and conference centers owned by churches as well as Christmas and New Year’s eve celebrations, calling for tight surveillance in these areas. He said the attack aims to disrupt the festive season.

This comes as police in Wajir and Garissa are holding six people suspected to be members of the Al-Shabaab. Police said the six were trying to sneak into the country after encountering a hostile environment at the Al Shabaab training camp in Somalia.

The terror group recruits young people from Tanzania, Kenya, and Ethiopia promising them high pay where they change the agreement upon arriving at the training camps prompting them to flee to Kenya. More security personnel have been deployed to man the Kenya-Somalia border to prevent them from escaping to Kenya

The Alshabab group is said to be planning to attack Nairobi. In the recent past, the group has claimed the lives of many innocent Kenyans through attacks in crowded areas like churches, schools, and malls among others.

In January 2020 the terror group conducted an attack on a military airstrip in Lamu County killing several people. They also attacked the DusitD2 complex in January 2019 leaving 22 civilians dead. Another attack was witnessed On 2 April 2015 at the Garissa University College, which killed at least 148 people.

The latter was the deadliest attack in Kenya since the 1998 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Nairobi by al-Qaeda, in which more than two hundred people died. Other attacks include the 2013 Westgate Mall attack and the July 2014 attacks in Lamu and Tana River Counties, with the methods of attack being grenades, shootings, and bombings.