Daily Times

After the massacre at a Kenyan varsity on Thursday, retaliation has followed. Kenya has launched airstrikes targeting the Somalian bases of terror group al Shabaab, which was responsible for the horrific attack in which as many as 148 innocent university students were killed in a massacre on their campus. The Garissa University College attack was the worst ever terror attack on Kenyan soil since the 1998 one on the US embassy. In 2013, a shopping mall in Kenya’s capital of Nairobi was attacked by al Shabaab militants. Such instances have made it a necessity for Kenya to take action. Since 2011, Kenya has been launching intermittent airstrikes against al Shabaab camps in Somalia because it shares the same fears and insecurities as other African countries that share a porous border with the lawless frontier that is present day Somalia. Somalia exists right next to Kenya, which is a relatively thriving African country. There is always a threat of spillover of terror activities across the border and Kenya — along with other African countries — was not ready to allow al Shabaab militants to take control of a neighbouring state. This is the reason the university was attacked, why soft targets were chosen and why such a gruesome ordeal was played out. It is a vicious cycle in which Kenya attacks to prevent al Shabaab from becoming stronger and al Shabaab attacks to intimidate and strike fear into the hearts of countries like Kenya.

Kenya’s fears are not unfounded. It is being reported that one of the four gunmen behind the Garissa University attack was the son of a Kenyan government official. Apparently, his father reported him missing and reports speculated that he had joined al Shabaab in Somalia. This shows that the radical ideas of Somalia’s militant organisation are seeping into the minds of younger, more impressionable Kenyans. It is a dangerous thought: al Shabaab’s ideology spreading to neighbouring countries and infiltrating young people’s minds. We all know what that is like with the decades long war and lawlessness ravaging Afghanistan and its subsequent spillover into Pakistan.
There are conflicting reports about the latest airstrikes killing militants or innocent citizens. The Kenyan authorities say militants have been killed while eyewitnesses say farmers were the fatalities. Whether the Kenyan government is pandering to popular sentiment after the university attack or actually taking out al Shabaab bases, one thing is absolutely clear: there can be no backing down in the face of the terrorist threat. *