Al-Shabaab releases video of Manda Airfield attackers in Kenya

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Barely two days to the first anniversary of the shock attack at a US Naval Base in Kenya, Al-Shabaab have released a video of the fighters who stormed the heavily fortified base in South Coast Kenya, leaving at least three US citizens dead in what could go on to change Washington's foreign policy.

January 5, 2020, Camp Simba attack was one of the major raids on Kenyan soil last year and triggered a series of security activities within the East Africa nation, given that this was the first major successful attack targeting the US Africa Command based in East Africa.

Among those killed by the Al-Qaeda linked group were two US contractors with the Department of Defense and one serviceman in a siege that lasted for almost six hours. Several aircraft were also destroyed by the militants, with security forces only managing to kill five attackers.

Those who raided the base were Ali Mohamed from Ethiopia, who studied in Nairobi, Moulana Faruq from Yemen [Operation Commander], Abubakar Al-Muhajir from Tanzania, Abdiweli Mohamed, [Deputy Operation Commander] and Aden Iman Yusuf who were both Somali citizens.

While it's clear that five attackers were killed, it's not clear whether it's the ones whose names were released or there were different sets of attackers during the raid. Both Kenya and the US admitted that the attackers caught their military unprepared in one of the most sophisticated raids of 2020.

There are complaints that Kenya Defense Forces [KDF] based in Manda Airfield "hid" in the grass during the raid but the country's department of defense dismissed the reports as "misguiding". It's from the facility that the US launches missiles against Al-Shabaab in Somalia.

After the attack, the US increased the number of servicemen at the facility and since then, US Africa Command leader General Stephen Townsend has visited Kenya twice. Last year, a US airstrike in Somalia killed one of the masterminds of the Manda Airfield raid according to the US Africa Command, which identified him as Bashir Qorgab.

The US has since started withdrawing her troops from Somalia in an operation which is scheduled to end by Jan 15 this year. On Sunday, Somalia's Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble visited the US biggest facility in Somalia, Balligodle Army base where he bid farewell to the outgoing team.

Although most leadership in Somalia opposed the move, the US maintained that it will redeploy close to 800 troops across East Africa. It's believed that Kenya and Djibouti are the likely hosts of the American soldiers, who the outgoing President Donald Trump wanted out of Somalia.

The video also comes almost two months after the militants also released a similar one where those who raided the DusitD2 Hotel in Nairobi were identified. The five attackers died in the raid that left 21 other people dead on January 15, 2019, almost two months to the second anniversary.

GAROWE ONLINE