Nairobi--Islamist gunmen who massacred sleeping students in Kenya's Garissa university knew what they were doing: they picked a soft target put further at risk by crippling corruption and mismanaged security, analysts say.
The killing on Thursday of 148 people by Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab militants was meant to strike at the heart of Kenya's society and economy, said Abdirashid Hashi, director of the Somalia's Heritage Institute for Policy Studies.
"By attacking soft targets, Al-Shebab's strategy is to devastate tourism, terrorise citizenry and sow discord," Hashi said.
The attack was not a sign of Shebab strength. The insurgents are weakened in Somalia, with US drone strikes killing a string of commanders, and they have lost all key towns to African Union forces, of which Kenya makes up a key part.
Rather, Thursday's dramatic attacks were aimed to give the Shebab the publicity they crave.
"It is an attack that will generate public attention, at least in East Africa," said Herve Maupeu, from France's University of Pau.
Faced with pressure in Somalia, the Shebab are trying "to survive by attacking the only country in the region where it is easy", Maupeu added.
Shebab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage said the attack was in revenge for Kenya's military deployment in southern Somalia.
But while other nations with troops in the AU mission to Somalia (AMISOM) have been also hit by the Islamists' violence, none have been hit as hard or as often as Kenya.
The Shebab also carried out the Westgate shopping mall massacre in Nairobi in September 2013 when four gunmen killed 67 people in a four-day siege.
Other states taking part in AMISOM are far harder targets: neighbouring Ethiopia has a well-organised security apparatus, Maupeu pointed out, while other countries such as Uganda and Burundi are just too far away.
AFP
