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ORAC
6th Jan 2020, 07:37
One fixed wing aircraft and two helicopters reported destroyed with others damaged.

https://time.com/5759067/al-shabab-kenya-attack/

NAIROBI, Kenya — Al-Shabab extremists overran a key military base used by U.S. counterterror forces in Kenya before dawn Sunday, killing three American Department of Defense personnel and destroying several U.S. aircraft and vehicles before they were repelled, U.S. and Kenyan authorities said.

The attack on the Manda Bay Airfield was the al-Qaida-linked group’s first attack against U.S. forces in the East African country, and the military called the security situation “fluid” several hours after the assault. Five attackers were killed, Kenyan military spokesman Paul Njuguna said.......

The attack on the compound “involved indirect and small arms fire. After an initial penetration of the perimeter, Kenya Defense Forces and U.S. Africa Command repelled the al-Shabaab attack,” said the AFRICOM statement. “Reports indicate that six contractor-operated civilian aircraft were damaged to some degree. Manda Bay Airfield is utilized by U.S. forces whose missions include providing training to our African partners, responding to crises, and protecting U.S. interests in this strategically important area.”

Al-Shabab claimed that there were 17 U.S. casualties, nine Kenyan soldiers killed and seven aircraft destroyed. The U.S. Africa Command dismissed the al-Shabab claims as exaggerated and said U.S. and Kenyan forces repelled the attack.......


Alert 5 » SOCOM?s secretive surveillance platform destroyed by terrorists in Kenya - Military Aviation News (http://alert5.com/2020/01/06/socoms-secretive-surveillance-platform-destroyed-by-terrorists-in-kenya/)

https://youtu.be/zOdN2mjRKr8

etudiant
6th Jan 2020, 09:36
One does note that the number of such incidents is increasing and that their geographic extent is also rising, even as various military crackdowns are under way.
Going to a more full scale war on little cat feet? Certainly the 'security' progress to date is negative.

SASless
6th Jan 2020, 10:08
Relying on the locals for security has always proved dangerous.....they are best used as trip wires that sound the alarm bell before any real damage can be done.

I admired the way the ANZAC Troops conducted their security effort in Somalia during that fracas.

etudiant
6th Jan 2020, 10:43
Relying on the locals for security has always proved dangerous.....they are best used as trip wires that sound the alarm bell before any real damage can be done.

I admired the way the ANZAC Troops conducted their security effort in Somalia during that fracas.

The problem is that more and more places in Africa seem to need security.
The trend really is towards a continent in flames, perhaps fueled by the incompetence and corruption of the various rulers we help prop up. No effective military solution is apparent either.

SASless
6th Jan 2020, 10:47
No argument with that statement....beyond ignoring the introduction of radical islamist terror groups as playing a huge role in all of the murder,rape, kidnapping, beheadings which is a change from the traditional tribal warfare and communist supported strife of times past.

TBM-Legend
6th Jan 2020, 11:04
South Africa is now out of control and in the hands of the communist ANC. Lawlessness and the killing of whites [and other blacks etc] is happening daily. They're wracked by drought and a currency that is almost worthless. All the bits between Cape Town and the Ned are in the same state. The West cannot stop this.

pax britanica
6th Jan 2020, 11:20
TBM Legend

i think you are exaggerating but not by that much. there are areas, Uganda Ethiopia Ghana that are pretty stable along with huge but sparsely populated Botswana. However that still leaves plenty of places where your view is very relevant.
The question is that if the west cannot stop this perhaps China can, they have made some very large and visible investments in many African countries and their way of doing things like major projects is more aligned with the developing world than the techno sanitized West

Mr Mac
6th Jan 2020, 11:39
pax britanica
China though heavily invested in Africa has also suffered from the endemic African corruption, which for example, has stopped the extension of the new Mombasa to Nairobi railway onto Lake Victoria (work stopped in the middle of know-where) due to spiralling costs. Incidentally I was Game fishing in the area in early December with some US contractors who happened to be there at the same time. I do hope they were not some of the victims in this incident..

Kind regards
Mr Mac

jolihokistix
6th Jan 2020, 12:31
This seems to bear out what you say, Mr Mac. They are reviving the old now-defunct British line west from Naivasha, it seems.
https://www.dw.com/en/kenya-struggles-to-manage-debt-for-railway-to-nowhere/a-50887431

pzu
6th Jan 2020, 15:57
From Daily Nation - possible Recon mission at UK base near Nanyuki

https://www.nation.co.ke/news/Three-seized-over-attempt-to-enter-army-base/1056-5408176-r97hepz/index.html?fbclid=IwAR2V1H_a0WRuULz_MXPjhXyOxi4CRfnzS8GbACAf JiDhJB_RAq2vxd0z05A

local expats say story could be exaggerated

PZU - Out of Africa (Retired)

Airbubba
6th Jan 2020, 17:34
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/578x699/ennibpfwoaqukyg_2e88801b69407934ecc8d164b3a2e78f7b3b9b53.png

MajorMadMax
7th Jan 2020, 13:04
https://theaviationist.com/2020/01/05/somali-terrorist-group-attacks-manda-bay-airfield-kenya-destroying-u-s-shadowy-surveillance-aircraft/