Mandera Governor Mohamed Adan Khalif has claimed that al-Shabaab controls over 60% of Mandera County, as reported by The Nation on 23 July 2023. The recent attacks are said to have been possible through infiltration along the porous 700km long border with Somalia.
World Watch Research analyst Yonas Dembele comments: “2023 does not mark the first instance of al-Shabaab's infiltration of Kenya. The group's past atrocities in the country, including the devastating 2013 Westgate shopping mall attack in Nairobi and the 2015 massacre at Garissa University, highlight a grim pattern of violence and underline the continual threat posed by the group. However, the group's current expanding influence in Mandera County potentially foreshadows an escalated offensive to destabilize the whole of the country, with serious implications for its Christian-majority population.
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