Mombasa (Kenya)- A police official said on Monday, Kenya planned to launch a military offensive against Islamist militants who have set up bases in a remote forest at the northern tip of its Indian Ocean coastline bordering Somalia.
Frederick Ndambuki, commissioner of Kenya’s Lamu county said Somalia’s al Shabaab group had carried out attacks along its northern coast before retreating to hideouts in Boni forest.
“We want to ensure the forest is safe and that no criminals are using it as a hideout to plan evil against our people,” Ndambuki said.
Al Shabaab, which has lost territory inside Somalia following offensives by African Union troops, has claimed responsibility for a spate of attacks in the area.
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The group claimed it was meant to pressure Nairobi to pull its contingent in the mission out of Somalia.
Police and military officials said the insurgents have permanent bases deep in Boni forest, where they live with their families and hunt game for food while using water from rivers flowing through the reserve.
Al Shabaab was behind the assault on Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall in 2013, in which 67 people were killed.
They have also carried out attacks that killed about 100 people in Lamu county in 2014.
Kenya has beefed up security in Lamu county and Lamu town, a popular tourist destination where visitor numbers have dwindled over the past year.
Local businesses say a dusk-to-dawn curfew has further hurt their struggling trade. (Reuters/NAN)
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