Kenya: Al-Shabaab suspected of kidnapping two teachers in Garissa county May 31

Event

Regional officials said that suspected Al-Shabaab militants attacked the village of Fafi, Garissa county, on the night of Wednesday, May 31. During the assault, a telecommunications tower was disabled, a school was burned, and two teachers were abducted. Officials said that the militants killed one of the teachers shortly after leaving the village. Local media source reported that three police officers were wounded while responding to the attack.

Context

Fafi is located about 90 km (56 mi) east of the town of Garissa. Al-Shabaab has recently increased attacks across the border from Somalia into Kenya. On May 31, seven police officers and a civilian were killed in the coastal Lamu district, near the Somali border, by a roadside improvised explosive device (IED). Between May 24 and May 25, 14 police officers were killed in three separate attacks in Mandera and Garissa counties, both located near the border with Somalia. Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for all three attacks.

Al-Shabaab regularly carries out attacks in Kenya’s northeast, near the porous border with Somalia where the group is based, as well as coastal areas popular with tourists and the capital city of Nairobi. The militant group has been effectively at war with the country since Kenyan forces engaged in the international fight against the terrorist group beginning in October 2011. Al-Shabaab, which seeks to topple Somalia's government and impose its own harsh interpretation of Sharia law, says it will continue to attack Kenya until Nairobi withdraws its troops from the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM).

Advice

Individuals in Kenya are advised to report any suspicious objects or behavior to the relevant authorities and be particularly cautious when visiting sites deemed particularly likely to be targeted in an attack (government buildings, places of worship, tourist sites, etc.). Due to these and other security concerns, many Western governments advise against travel to a number of regions in the country, including areas bordering Somalia (parts of Mandera, Wajir, Garissa, and Lamu counties), Ethiopia, and South Sudan, as well as nonessential travel to the city of Mombasa. Several Nairobi neighborhoods, including Eastleigh and Pangani, are also best avoided.