More security personnel were deployed in Garissa over a planned graduation ceremony at the Garissa University on Thursday, June 22.
The military are among the personnel that were patrolling the area ahead of the event to be graced by National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula, education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu, and his defense counterpart Aden Duale.
The move follows increased sightings of al-Shabaab terrorists in the region.
Attacks linked to the terrorists along the main Kenya-Somalia border have in the past two months left at least 30 people dead and many injured.
Security officials say they have mobilized more personnel to tame any planned such terror-related incident in the area ahead, during, or after the graduation event.
April 2, 2023, marked eight years since four terrorists stormed Garissa University, and started to shoot randomly, killing 148 people.
The Somali-based militia group al-Shabaab said it was motivated to attack Kenya because that country sent its troops to Somalia.
Mohamed Mohamud, also known by the aliases of Dulyadin, Kuno, and Gamadhere, who was on Kenya’s wanted list after the massacre, was in July 2015 among four senior members of al Shabaab militants who were killed in a US drone strike.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki says they have stepped up the fight against the threat of terror and neutralized terror plans.
“We have disrupted many terror plots at source, neutralized and/or arrested dozens of suspected terrorists, and destroyed a huge cache of weapons and explosives that could have badly harmed our people if they were not intercepted,” he said in a recent briefing.
“The current crackdown on al Shabaab terror cells in Somalia, which is spearheaded by local community leaders with the support of the Federal Government of Somalia, has tremendously weakened this militant group.”
He said security agencies are alert to ensure that militants do not cross into Kenya’s territory.
“We have stepped up our border patrols and upped our surveillance on the proliferation of illicit arms, narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances,” Kindiki said.
He said they have improved on intelligence gathering to stay several steps ahead of the enemy.
“We must always strike first and fast to neutralize them and obliterate their nefarious networks.”
Kindiki said hardworking officers in the elite specially trained formed units remain engaged in keeping terror at bay.
There are fears that terrorists could be planning an attack anywhere.
The latest such incident happened in Mandera on Wednesday where four passengers were killed in a roadside bomb attack.
On Tuesday, two police officers and a civilian were also killed in the same area in an Improvised Explosive Devise attack.
In Lamu, two soldiers were on June 18 killed and more than 20 were injured in a bomb attack.
On May 22, multi-agency teams stopped a major planned terrorist attack and recovered an arsenal of weapons in an operation in Alango, Garissa County.
Police said the team recovered six AK47 rifles, two Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs), PKM, two grenades, and other items.
The team also found warheads, 20 magazines and a belt of 200 rounds, a cell phone, and a memory Card.
This is after the team raided an al-Shabaab camp in Alango in Garissa which militants planned to use to launch attacks in the County.
More personnel have been deployed in the area in efforts to tame the attacks.
The border region has borne the brunt of repeated attacks from the militants who are at times aided by locals.
Somalia has not had a stable government after the fall of Siad Barre in 1991.
The area is near the Somalia border and the militants usually cross at will and stage attacks before escaping back.
Al-Shabaab terrorists have been attacking places in the region, especially in Mandera and Garissa counties after breaching security zones, which left dozens of civilians and security officials dead and wounded.
The terrorists have been planting explosives on the routes used by the security agencies.
Kenyan troops are in Somalia to pursue and suppress the activities of the terror group.