The country witnessed more terrorist attacks in 2022 than in the previous year.

In a report released last week, Centre for Human Rights and Policy Studies (CHRIPS) shows terror attacks increased to 77 cases up from 51 in 2021.

The Trends of Violent Extremist Attacks and arrests in Kenya report shows majority of terror attacks happened in the first three months of last year.

January recorded the highest number of attacks at 16, resulting in 46 fatalities with 16 injuries while February had 12 incidents with 29 fatalities. March recorded eight  incidents leading to death of 19 people.

The months of April and May recorded zero attacks but then sporadically increased between June and December.

According to the research, the  number of people who died from terror attacks also increased from 100 in 2021 to 116 fatalities in 2022 while 64 people sustained injuries, a decrease from 73 terror-related injuries recorded in the previous year.

Of the people injured, 42 were civilians, 35 security officers and a Government official.

According to the report, 38 Al Shabaab militants were also killed last year with 15 of them being killed by Kenya Defense Forces in Lamu in January 2022.

Counties from Northern Eastern and Lamu were the most affected.

Mandera had 37 attacks, Lamu (21), Garissa (10) and Wajir (9). Lamu had the highest number of fatalities with 72 deaths followed by Mandera with 18.

Mandera and Wajir also recorded 12 deaths and two incidents of kidnappings respectively. The number of kidnappings decreased by 18 per cent compared to 17 people kidnaped in 2021.

Majority of the kidnappings targeted local government officials such as former councillors and health workers.

Report further indicates that Al Shabaab militants claimed responsibility for majority of the attacks, including the ambush and killing of four police officers in Garissa as well as torching of houses in Marafa village in Mpeketoni and ambushing of construction site of LAPSSET project where four civilians involved in the construction died and three including a Chinese national were injured.

The 2022 study further indicates 50 per cent of the attacks were targeted to security officials, especially while on transit or during their patrols.

Increased vigilance

Attacks of security officials hit its peak in 2020(41 cases) but then reduced to 24 in 2021 but then increased to 33 incidents in 2022.

Aside from the civilians, critical infrastructures are also targeted by these militants, who have so far paralysed eight communication masts, particularly in Mandera and Wajir.

CHRIPS Communication and Knowledge Management Officer  Linda Ouma says security officials are the most affected because they are the first contacts militants encounter either on the ground or at the borders.

Ouma says majority of the incidents are of police running on IEDs during patrols since they are an easy targets.

She notes that there is need for increased vigilance across the country, especially in areas recording more attacks.

“We also need to beef up our security at the porous borders which these militants use to sneak back to the country after undergoing training in Somalia,” she says.

Ouma further notes there is also need to embrace the Whole Society Approach where communities, local civil society organisations and local security apparatus work together to root out militants living within the community, making it easy to share information.

Lead researcher at CHRIPS, Rahma Ramadhan, notes that while officials and counter terror bodies are to be commended for the increased measures in countering violent extremism, it was clear that al-Shabaab still posed a threat to Kenya’s security.

“The frequent terror-related attacks have increased over the years, largely targeting security officials by use of various explosive devices,” she says.