Kenya said on Wednesday it was delaying the planned reopening of its long-closed border with Somalia after a number of deadly attacks on its soil attributed to the Islamist militant group Al-Shabaab. Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki said the phased reopening of border posts in Mandera, Lamu and Garissa along the lengthy frontier with Somalia would not go ahead as announced in May. "The government will delay the planned reopening of Kenya-Somalia border points until we conclusively deal with the recent spate of terror attacks and cross-border crime," Kindiki said during a visit to the Dadaab refugee camp in far eastern Kenya near Somalia. On 24 June, five civilians had their throats cut in an attack in Lamu near the Somali border. Kenya has suffered retaliatory attacks on its soil by Al-Shabaab since sending troops over the border into Somalia in 2011 to crush the Al-Qaeda linked jihadists.

Source: News 24 July 05, 2023 14:46 UTC