Inside the deadly Al-Shabaab recruitment cells in the country

When authorities raided four mosques in Mombasa following their links to radicalisation of youth in 2014, police said they had made a “major” step in the fight against terrorism.

The mosques – Masjid Musa, Masjid Sakina, Masjid Swafaa and Masjid Mina – located in Majengo and Kisauni were then temporarily shut down and opened later after an agreement between security agents and local Muslim leaders.

By then, police believed they had dismantled terror cells that were the breeding grounds for terrorists. It was after the raid that hundreds of youths from Mombasa who had been radicalised were forced to flee to hideouts.

The radical teachings had by that time spread to Kwale County where a number of youths were also recruited.

Many, according to police reports, ended up in Somalia to join the Al-Qaeda affiliated terror group Al- Shabaab. After a few years of training, the recruits, most of whom are well educated ,sneaked back into the country to lure their peers into the group.

It was not until the recent Dusit complex terror attack in Nairobi, which claimed 21 lives, that Anti-Terror Police Unit (ATPU) officers affirmed that the war on terror was far from over.

Source: Nation