Kenya among most targeted countries by terrorism

Kenya is among the top 20 countries ravaged by terrorism in a list dominated by African states except Syria, Pakistan, Israel, Iraq, Chile and the Philippines.
The latest Global Terrorism Index, 2024, reveals that a total of 8,532 deaths were attributed to terrorism in 2023, a 15 per cent rise from the previous documented year.
With an average score of 5.6 out of a possible 10, with 10 being the worst, Kenya dropped one place from 17 to 18 compared to the same study in 2023.
The report showed that Kenya's risks associated with terrorism moved from "very high" to "medium", indicating an improvement in the country's mechanisms to mitigate the impact of violent extremism.
This improvement is a testament to the country's multi-agency security operations against the Al-Shabaab terrorist group, which has continued to stage attacks in Lamu and the north-eastern parts of the country.
Over the past year, several makeshift camps and successful arrests of members of the group by Kenyan security forces have also made it difficult for the outlawed group to operate with ease.
But this has not come without a price.
In 2023, Kenya witnessed some of the most bizarre killings in parts of Lamu, Garissa, Wajir and Mandera.
In June, 20 people died in deadly attacks orchestrated by Al-Shabaab. In one attack, five people were beheaded and houses burnt in Salama and Juhudi villages in Mkunumbi division, Lamu County.
It was the ninth consecutive year that this group was responsible for more than 400 deaths and more than 100 attacks in a given year, the report noted.
In 2023, it was responsible for the deaths of 26 people in Lamu and another 37 in Garissa and Mandera counties.
The study also found that Al-Shabaab are becoming bolder, with 41 per cent of their attacks in 2023 targeting the military, followed by civilians at 22 per cent.
"Al-Shabaab was responsible for 70 deaths in Kenya in 2023, the most since 2019. Government-led counter-terrorism operations in Somalia have led to a surge in Al-Shabaab fighters crossing into Kenya, exacerbated by a shortage of law enforcement personnel along the border," the report said.
Somalia is the second deadliest country for terrorism in Africa, with a score of 7.8. Globally, it ranks seventh and remains a high-risk country.
The worst documented attack in Somalia occurred in May 2023, when gunmen attacked an African Union army base housing Ugandan soldiers with firearms and improvised explosive devices in the early hours of the morning, killing at least 54 soldiers. Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility.

Read: Why Al-Shabaab has been executing Kenyan fighters within their ranks in Somalia
Uganda is also a medium-risk country with a score of 4.37, higher than Tanzania, ranked 27th and 42nd with a score of 2.26. Tanzania is a low-risk country for terrorism.
Burkina Faso, ranked as the most dangerous country, experienced five deadly terrorist attacks in 2023. Two occurred in February, while the others were in April, October, November and December. More than 400 people died in these attacks. In total, 1,907 people died as a result of terrorist attacks in Burkina Faso.
"A quarter of all terrorist deaths worldwide occurred in Burkina Faso," the report said.
The deadliest of these attacks took place on 17 February 2023, when gunmen killed 71 soldiers, wounded three and kidnapped an unconfirmed number in an ambush in Oudalan province.
Mali, Nigeria and Niger were among the West African countries listed in the top 20 affected by terrorism, with index scores of 7.9, 7.5 and 7.2 respectively.
In Central Africa, Cameroon (6.9) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (6.5), were also listed. Mozambique, with a score of 6.2, was the only country in Southern Africa to appear in the top 20 countries affected by terrorism.
The report also found a 23 per cent drop in the number of terrorist attacks in 2023, with incidents falling from 4,321 to 3,350. However, the attacks have become more lethal, with an average of 2.5 deaths per attack last year, compared to 1.6 deaths in 2022.
The report also found that conflict remains the main driver of terrorism activities, with over 90 per cent of terrorist attacks in 2023 taking place in conflict zones.

Read: Kenya scales up fight against Al Shabaab militants
Globally, the 7 October 2023 attack in Israel, orchestrated by the Gaza-based Hamas group, was the deadliest, killing 1,200 people in a single day.
For the first time since the Index's inception, Iraq did not feature in the top 10 countries most affected by terrorism, with fatalities falling by 65 per cent over the past year.

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Islamic State (IS) and its affiliates remained the world's deadliest terrorist group in 2023, "although the number of deaths attributed to the group and its affiliates fell by 17 per cent since 1963 to 1,626 deaths."
Besides IS, the other three most dangerous terrorist groups responsible for the most deaths were Hamas, Jamaat Nusrat-Al-Islam wal Muslimeen and Al-Shabaab.
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