| 2022 Mandera attack | |
|---|---|
| Part of Somali Civil War (2009-present) | |
| Location | Hagarsu, Mandera County, Kenya |
| Date | January 31, 2022 |
| Deaths | 10 |
| Injured | 13 |
| Perpetrator |  al-Shabaab |
On January 31, 2022, al-Shabaab attacked a bus carrying civilians in Mandera County, Kenya, near the border with Somalia. Ten people were killed, and thirteen injured, in the attack.
The Somali government has been fighting the jihadist group al-Shabaab since 2009, in the Somali Civil War. Due to a lack of security along the Kenyan-Somali border, al-Shabaab militants often launch raids into rural Kenyan counties, like Wajir County, Lamu County, and Mandera County. [1] In 2019, al-Shabaab attacked a bus in Wajir county that was carrying law enforcement, killing eleven people. [2] The road attacked in January 2022 had also been attacked before in 2015, killing three people but failing to assassinate the Mandera County governor. [3] Another attack hit the road in 2021. [4] Prior to the January 2022 attack, French, American, and Dutch officials warned Kenyan security that attacks were likely, but Kenya stated that they had no knowledge of these. [5]
At the time of the attack, the bus was traveling through the town of Hagarsu, along the E87 highway. [4] Around 20 people were on the bus at the time of the explosion. [6] [7] Witnesses stated gunshots rang out, and then the bus hit an IED on the road, which was suspected to have been placed there earlier that week by al-Shabaab. [6] [7] Survivors stated that following the bombing, al-Shabaab militants attacked the bus and shot people, injuring and killing several. [3] A police report later claimed the attackers fled back towards the Somali border. [6] Two other vehicles behind the destroyed one were unaffected by the attack. [7]
Initial reports from Kenyan media stated six people were killed, which rose to a number between seven and thirteen as injuries were still being assessed. [8] [ better source needed ] Hospitals in the area stated that they were treating 13 people for injuries. [9] Ten people were killed in total, with thirteen injured. [5]
The Honorary Consulate of Kenya to Ukraine expressed their condolences. [10] [ better source needed ] The Mandera County Deputy Governor Mohamed Arai called on security agencies to fully investigate the bombing. [7] In an interview with Hiiraan Online, Rono Bunei, the North Eastern police commander, stated that the attackers had warned the bus driver by placing a sign, and that the driver had likely not seen it. [7]
Days later, on February 2, four people were killed in an al-Shabaab planted IED in Wajir County. [11]
Hiran is an administrative region (gobol) in central Somalia and part of the Hirshabelle State.
The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) was a regional peacekeeping mission operated by the African Union with the approval of the United Nations Security Council. It was mandated to support transitional governmental structures, implement a national security plan, train the Somali security forces, and to assist in creating a secure environment for the delivery of humanitarian aid. As part of its duties, AMISOM supported the Federal Government of Somalia's forces in their battle against Al-Shabaab militants.
The 2009 timeline of events in the Somalia War (2006–2009) during January 2009 is set out below. From the beginning of February the timeline of events in the Somali Civil War (2009–present) is set out following the conclusion of the previous phase of the civil war.
The Somali Civil War (2009–present) is the ongoing phase of the Somali Civil War which is concentrated in southern and central Somalia. It began in late January 2009 with the conflict mainly between the forces of the Federal Government of Somalia assisted by African Union peacekeeping troops and al-Qaeda aligned al-Shabaab militants.
Bulo Marer is a town in the southwestern Lower Shebelle region of Somalia. It was a base of Al-Shabaab, and was the site of an ill-fated 2013 military operation during which French commandos attempted to free a French hostage that was being held by the insurgent group. The town was taken by Somali government forces assisted by AMISOM troops after a battle on August 30, 2014. It was the site of the 2018 African Union base attack in Bulo Marer.
This is a 2011 timeline of events in the Somali Civil War (2009–present).
The Raskamboni Movement was a jihadist Islamic movement led by Sheikh Ahmed Madobe, the current president of the Jubaland state in southern Somalia. After fighting with Al-Shabaab they managed to capture Kismayo with the help of Kenya.
From late 2011 to 2014, Kenya experienced an upsurge in violent terrorist attacks. Kenyan government officials asserted that many of the murders and blasts were carried out by al-Shabaab in retaliation for Operation Linda Nchi, a coordinated military mission between the Somalian military and Kenyan military that began in October 2011, when troops from Kenya crossed the border into the conflict zones of southern Somalia. According to Kenyan security experts, the bulk of the attacks were increasingly carried out by radicalized Kenyan youth who were hired for the purpose. Kenya security officials also indicated that they were part of death squads, which carried out many of the killings under the orders of a government security council. By mid-2014, the cumulative attacks began affecting Kenya's tourism industry, as Western nations issued travel warnings to their citizens.
Many terrorist attacks have occurred in Kenya during the 20th and 21st centuries. In 1980, the Jewish-owned Norfolk hotel was attacked by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). In 1998, the US embassy was bombed in Nairobi, as was the Israeli-owned Paradise hotel in 2002 in Mombasa. In 2013, the Somali jihadist group al-Shabaab killed 67 people at Nairobi's Westgate Shopping Mall. There have also been many other attacks.
The Somali–Kenyan conflict has been an issue within Kenya since the colonial period. Problems have ranged from skirmishes between the two communities and have led to terrorist attacks, police harassment, extortion, home invasions, physical violence, and massacres perpetrated against Somalis and Kenyans.
On 2 April 2015, gunmen stormed the Garissa University College in Garissa, Kenya, killing 148 people, and injuring 79 or more. The militant groups Al-Qaeda and Al-Shabaab, which the gunmen claimed to be from, took responsibility for the attack. The gunmen took over 700 students hostage, freeing Muslims and killing those who identified as Christians. The siege ended the same day, when all four of the attackers were killed. Five men were later arrested in connection with the attack, and a bounty was placed for the arrest of a suspected organizer.
This article contains a timeline of events for the Somali jihadist group al-Shabaab.
This is a 2016 timeline of events in the Somali Civil War (2009–present).
This is a 2017 timeline of events in the Somali Civil War (2009–present).
This is a 2018 timeline of events in the Somali Civil War (2009–present).
Salah Abdow Farah was a Kenyan teacher who lost his life after defending his fellow passengers on a bus. He survived the December 2015 attack but died on January 18, 2016, from complications after a surgery to remove a bullet lodged in his hip. His story of courage inspired the short film Watu Wote by Katja Benrath. At the time of his death, Farah was the Deputy Headteacher of Mandera Township Primary School.
The Latema road blast was a minor terror incident that occurred on 26 January 2019 on Latema road in Nairobi's Central Business District. The attack occurred after luggage containing an improvised explosive device detonated while it was being carried on a mkokoteni cart, injuring two people.
On 6 December 2019, at least 11 people, including seven police officers, were shot dead on or outside a bus in Kenya. The Medina Bus Company vehicle and its passengers were attacked on a road in a rural area between Wajir and Mandera in northeastern Kenya. Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack.
This is a 2019 timeline of events in the Somali Civil War (2009–present).
On September 3, 2022, militants from al-Shabaab ambushed a civilian bus traveling from Beledweyne to Mahas, in Hiran, Somalia. Over twenty civilians were killed, and the bombing occurred in the middle of the 2022 Hiraan offensive by the Somali military against al-Shabaab.