Al-shabaab terrorists attack American military base in Kenya, killing three
SOMALIA’S al-shabaab terror group have targeted US forces in Kenya for the first time, killing three people and destroying American reconnaissance aircraft during an attack on a secretive military base.
An unknown number of jihadist militants struck at Camp Simba, an American military facility located on a Kenyan naval base, shortly before dawn yesterday.
The US military said one US service member and two contractors had been killed, while two officials from the department of defence had been wounded. There were “fewer than 150” American soldiers at Camp Simba, which is located on Manda Bay close to the tourist resort of Lamu, in the north of the country, when the attack took place, US officials said.
Although the militants were unable to penetrate Camp Simba itself, they succeeded in overrunning an adjacent airfield where they set fire to at least two planes, one of which was an American “intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance” aircraft used for missions in Somalia.
The US Africa Command later said the wounded Americans were “stable”. General Stephen Townsend said: “Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of our teammates who lost their lives.”
The brazen nature of the attack – which took place more than 50 miles south of the Somali frontier – represents a significant escalation in alshabaab cross-border operations.
The group has frequently carried out attacks on Kenyan troops in retaliation for the Kenyan army’s military incursion into southern Somalia.
However, until now it has shied away from attacking US troops in Kenya, although the group did mount a failed operation against Americans stationed in Somalia last September.
Camp Simba, established in 2004, is one of the largest American military installations in Africa. It is frequently used by US special forces mounting covert operations in Somalia.
Rashid Abdi, a prominent analyst, suggested the attack “may have been a well-timed signal to Iran that it was open for tactical alliances”, following the US airstrike that killed Qassim Soleimani, Iran’s top general, in Baghdad, Iraq, last Friday.
Mr Abdi said that Sunni al-shabaab was fundamentally hostile to Shia Iran, but added that the Kenyan security services had long accused Soleimani’s Revolutionary Guards Corps of trying to woo the terror group into a marriage of convenience against the
United States.
Other analysts rejected the theory, saying attacks like that on Camp Simba normally involved months of preparation. They also suggested that al-shabaab would alienate potential recruits if it sided with Iran.
The US has mounted a growing number of strikes against al-shabaab targets in Somalia in recent years.
Yesterday’s attack forced a brief closure of Manda Island civilian airport, which is used by thousands of British travellers to hotels and resorts on the Lamu Archipelago.