A Terror cell that was coordinating a large scale terrorist attack targeting Critical Infrastructure and High-Value security facilities at the Coastal region of Kenya has been destroyed after a team of elite Counter Terrorism conducted a raid on their safehouse in Likoni area of Mombasa prefecture. 3 Members of the terror cell were killed in the CT raid. Another 3 are on the unit’s radar.
Intelligence reports warned of an impending large scale attack targeting high value targets including security facilities and critical infrastructure in the Coastal region, specifically Mombasa. The busting of the cell is a significant setback to the Al-Qaeda branch in Somalia, Harakat Shabaab Mujahideen. The terror group is seeking hegemony in the region as jihadists race to outdo each other in the region.
The threat is persistent hence destroying the cell doesn’t mean the teams will stand down, instead, they’ll have to remain on standby mode. Terrorists strategies are often unique and investigators may not narrow down to actual cells on time but disrupting a critical pillar of the cell is itself a significant success in CT. Disruption is actually the greatest success in CT, it not only preempts the threat but also allows investigators time to pursue leads and connected cells thus helping completely destroy the entire terror cell and remove the threat altogether.
