Some lawmakers and analysts in the United States are urging President
Obama to launch strikes against al-Shabaab with the aim of preventing
more terror attacks in Kenya and possibly the United States.
Photo/REUTERS
Monday, September 23, 2013
Some lawmakers and analysts in the United States are urging
President Obama to launch strikes against al-Shabaab with the aim of
preventing more terror attacks in Kenya and possibly the United States.
''We're
talking about very significant terrorist groups here which are showing a
capacity to attack outside of their borders and actually recruit people
from here in the United States," Republican Congressman Peter King, a
member of the House of Representatives' Intelligence Committee, said on
US television on Sunday.
"They're not on the decline," added Senator
Tom Coburn, the top Republican on the Homeland Security Committee.
''They're on the rise, as you can see from Nairobi."
US
counter-terrorism officials warn that Shabaab's sophistication and reach
are increasing due to connections the Somalia group has made with
al-Qa'ida forces in Yemen and with Boko Haram militants in Nigeria.
Some
US officials have "warned that the Shabaab could be signaling a wider
offensive, particularly within Kenya," the New York Times reported on
Monday.
Shabaab is using its enhanced abilities to
"punish Kenya on its own soil, mostly for its role within Somalia, but
also, to some degree, because of growing American support for the Kenyan
security forces," the Times added.
The newspaper noted
the close cooperation between the US and Kenya on counter-terrorism
efforts, adding, " The CIA station in Nairobi is among the largest in
Africa. And the United States ambassador to Kenya, Robert Godec, was
formerly the State Department’s deputy coordinator for
counter-terrorism."
The Times further reported that the
Westgate Mall is one of "at least three major shopping malls in the
Kenyan capital about which American embassy officials had expressed
concerns over faulty security to Kenyan authorities."
Until now, direct US military operations against Shabaab have consisted of little more than a few drone strikes.
But
the CIA does maintain a large base at the Mogadishu airport, and US
trainers and advisors have worked extensively with African Union troops
battling Shabaab in Somalia.