Nile Post
  • News
    • 2021 Elections Watch
      • The Election Podcast
    • Education
    • Exclusive
    • Investigations
    • Security
  • Business
  • Opinions
    • Columns
      • Parting Shot
      • Two Sides of a Coin
      • Bazanye’s Quick Shots
      • Week in Ugandan News
  • Global
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • The Americas
  • East Africa
    • Kenya
    • Rwanda
    • South Sudan
  • Lifestyle
    • Entertainment
    • Health
      • Coronavirus outbreak
    • Tour & Travel
    • Love Therapist
    • Homes
  • Tech
  • Special Reports
    • Kabaka Mutebi’s 25th Coronation Series
    • Focus on Somalia
    • Sino-Africa
    • Uganda at 56
    • Anti-Corruption Fight
    • Age Limit Map
    • Tuve Ku Kaveera
  • Sports
    • Place-It
    • StarTimes Uganda Premier League
    • Bundesliga
    • World Cup
  • Jobs
  • Archives
  • Live
No Results Found
View All Results
  • News
    • 2021 Elections Watch
      • The Election Podcast
    • Education
    • Exclusive
    • Investigations
    • Security
  • Business
  • Opinions
    • Columns
      • Parting Shot
      • Two Sides of a Coin
      • Bazanye’s Quick Shots
      • Week in Ugandan News
  • Global
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • The Americas
  • East Africa
    • Kenya
    • Rwanda
    • South Sudan
  • Lifestyle
    • Entertainment
    • Health
      • Coronavirus outbreak
    • Tour & Travel
    • Love Therapist
    • Homes
  • Tech
  • Special Reports
    • Kabaka Mutebi’s 25th Coronation Series
    • Focus on Somalia
    • Sino-Africa
    • Uganda at 56
    • Anti-Corruption Fight
    • Age Limit Map
    • Tuve Ku Kaveera
  • Sports
    • Place-It
    • StarTimes Uganda Premier League
    • Bundesliga
    • World Cup
  • Jobs
  • Archives
  • Live
No Results Found
View All Results
Nile Post
No Results Found
View All Results

Five Years After Westgate, Al-Shabab Still Threat in Kenya

Amon Katungulu by Amon Katungulu
September 21, 2018 at 6:11 pm
in Kenya, News, Security
Five Years After Westgate, Al-Shabab Still Threat in Kenya

Five years ago, four armed men from the Somali militant group al-Shabab stormed the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, trapping hundreds of people inside. When the four-day siege ended, 67 people were dead and more than 150 wounded.

Al-Shabab said it was retaliating for the Kenyan government sending forces into Somalia two years earlier.

A new report says the militant group remains a threat to Kenya, but notes the government has learned to work with the Muslim community, helping to reduce the likelihood of successful attacks.

John Wangombe, 31, was working at Westgate when al-Shabab struck on Sept. 21, 2013.

“I used to work at Westgate at the control room. I used to monitor the cameras and their networks at the Westgate mall. On that specific day, I was on duty; we were doing all the monitoring and then all of the sudden we started hearing gunshots. So what came first to my mind was to run away,” Wangombe said.

The IT expert was familiar with the mall and hid with a dozen others. He told VOA he could hear gunshots and people screaming. Police rescued him three hours later.

Wangombe has returned to Westgate only once since the mall reopened in 2015.

“Right now, they have so many security guys there,” he said. “It’s like you fear going there because you think they may attack again and the security put you off because they have a lot of checkups, the gates are opening and closing; they have a lot of sensors all over. You get scared even going around there when you see all the security there.”

In 2015, al-Shabab attacked a college in the town of Garissa, killing nearly 150 people, most of them students.

The International Crisis Group warned in a new report Friday that al-Shabab is still a threat to Kenya and the region. The report said a government crackdown that followed the Westgate attack fueled anger within the Muslim community, which helped al-Shabab recruit in Kenya.

But Murithi Mutiga, the Crisis Group’s Kenya researcher, says the government has learned to work with the community.

“Since 2015, given the steep change, particularly enhanced engagement with communities, appointment of some leaders from local communities, engagement with the elected officials at the local level, and generally a more convivial relationship with the community has yielded better intelligence and, in turn, has resulted in a lower level of attacks,” Mutiga said.

Kenyan forces are still part of the African Union mission that provides security to the Somali government and its population.

Al-Shabab continues to demand that Kenyan troops leave Somalia, and continues to carry out attacks along the borders and the coastal town of Lamu.

 

Tags: al shabab attackal-shabaabkenya mall attackkenya terror attacksterror attackterror attackswestgatewestgate mall. westgate mall attack

Related Posts

Kenya terror convict ‘kills himself in jail’
Kenya

Kenya terror convict ‘kills himself in jail’

by NP admin
November 30, 2020
0

A Tanzanian man convicted of involvement in the 2015 attack on a Kenyan university that left 148 people dead has...

Read more

2 men convicted of deadly Westgate mall attack

October 7, 2020
A decade later: How the bloody Kampala bombings were planned, orchestrated

A decade later: How the bloody Kampala bombings were planned, orchestrated

July 12, 2020
Impossible to hold 2020 polls, says Somalia elections boss

Impossible to hold 2020 polls, says Somalia elections boss

June 29, 2020
Southern African leaders meet on Mozambique’s deteriorating security

Southern African leaders meet on Mozambique’s deteriorating security

May 21, 2020

Discussion about this post

Follow Us

  • 178.8k Fans
  • 150.3k Followers

Latest

2021 Consumer Choice Awards (CCAs) launched

2021 Consumer Choice Awards (CCAs) launched

January 25, 2021
Frank Lampard sacked by Chelsea after 18 months in charge

Frank Lampard sacked by Chelsea after 18 months in charge

January 25, 2021
Friends turn foes: Bobi Wine, Kibalama face off in court

I was coached, forced to lie about Kyagulanyi in NUP case- Kibalama

January 26, 2021
Ugandan government threatens to reimpose Covid19 lockdown

Lukwago to NRM: “If you did not rig elections, allow Bobi Wine to move freely”

January 25, 2021
UIA: Local Ugandans lead in investments in the country

‘Expansion of Namanve industrial park will create 200,000 jobs’

January 25, 2021
cocacola-ad-safebodacocacola-ad-safebodacocacola-ad-safeboda

Featured

Friends turn foes: Bobi Wine, Kibalama face off in court
Featured

I was coached, forced to lie about Kyagulanyi in NUP case- Kibalama

by Kenneth Kazibwe
January 26, 2021
0

In a twist of events, National Unity Platform...

Police apologise to Buganda, Catholic Church for firing teargas during clan meeting

We are vacating Kyagulanyi’s home but maintaining surveillance on him- Police

January 25, 2021
Police: “It is Bobi Wine who doesn’t want to meet his lawyers”

Court orders security to withdraw from Kyagulanyi home

January 25, 2021
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Careers
Call us: +256-417-720-101

© 2020 Nile Post Uganda Ltd. - A Next Media Services Company.

No Results Found
View All Results
  • News
    • 2021 Elections Watch
      • The Election Podcast
    • Education
    • Exclusive
    • Investigations
    • Security
  • Business
  • Opinions
    • Columns
      • Parting Shot
      • Two Sides of a Coin
      • Bazanye’s Quick Shots
      • Week in Ugandan News
  • Global
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • The Americas
  • East Africa
    • Kenya
    • Rwanda
    • South Sudan
  • Lifestyle
    • Entertainment
    • Health
      • Coronavirus outbreak
    • Tour & Travel
    • Love Therapist
    • Homes
  • Tech
  • Special Reports
    • Kabaka Mutebi’s 25th Coronation Series
    • Focus on Somalia
    • Sino-Africa
    • Uganda at 56
    • Anti-Corruption Fight
    • Age Limit Map
    • Tuve Ku Kaveera
  • Sports
    • Place-It
    • StarTimes Uganda Premier League
    • Bundesliga
    • World Cup
  • Jobs
  • Archives
  • Live

© 2020 Nile Post Uganda Ltd. - A Next Media Services Company.