Multi agency counter terror strategies bearing fruits, agencies argue

For the longest time, Kenya was lull with threats of terrorism remaining one of the remotest possibilities until the twin bombing of the American embassy in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in 1998 by Al-Qaeda operatives.

The clear agenda of the mainly foreign terror operatives that coordinated the attacks on the US embassies in some of East Africa’s largest metropolises was still shrouded. The conventional thinking then, was that America and its interests was the primary target with Kenya and Tanzania only suffering collateral damages.

From the time of the American embassy bombing in Nairobi and Tanzania in 1998 to 2002, the threat of terrorism and radicalisation into violent extremism had become a clearly acknowledged national security threat Kenya’s national security fraternity as an emerging and a serious danger facing the country, security agencies argue.