{"id":102121,"date":"2026-02-24T18:01:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T18:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/102121\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T18:01:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T18:01:11","slug":"al-azhar-observatory-warns-of-rising-al-shabaab-threats-along-somali-kenyan-border","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/102121\/","title":{"rendered":"Al-Azhar Observatory warns of rising Al-Shabaab threats along Somali-Kenyan border"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1771591086_399_hol.jpg\" alt=\"HOL Logo\" class=\"source-logo-inline\"\/><br \/>Tuesday February 24, 2026<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/177193066341_2026-639074530803470345-347.jpg\" alt=\"Al-Azhar Observatory warns of rising Al-Shabaab threats along Somali-Kenyan border\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The Al-Azhar Observatory for Combating Extremism has warned of escalating terrorist threats along the Somali-Kenyan border during the holy month of Ramadan, citing a \u201cbloody strategy\u201d by the militant group Al-Shabaab to intimidate civilians and carry out cross-border attacks.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement on Monday, the observatory said the latest escalation began last Saturday night, when Al-Shabaab militants executed 10 civilians by firing squad in Buale, Middle Juba, and Qunyo Barrow, Lower Shabelle, in southern Somalia.<\/p>\n<p>The executions were carried out publicly in front of residents, with the victims accused of spying for the federal government and foreign entities. The observatory described the acts as a clear attempt by the group to consolidate control over areas under its influence during Ramadan.<\/p>\n<p>According to the statement, the group\u2019s activities have also extended beyond Somalia\u2019s borders. A security report revealed that Kenyan intelligence services thwarted a major terrorist plot that was planned to be carried out during Ramadan in the capital, Nairobi.<\/p>\n<p>The statement noted that Al-Shabaab\u2019s activities have also extended beyond Somalia. A security report revealed that Kenyan intelligence services foiled a major terrorist plot planned for Ramadan in Nairobi.<\/p>\n<p>Pre-emptive operations seized weapons and explosives, preventing what authorities said was a large-scale attack aimed at targeting religious gatherings in Nairobi and destabilizing Kenya.<\/p>\n<p>The observatory said these actions reflect Al-Shabaab\u2019s \u201cdeviant ideological framework,\u201d as the group tends to intensify operations during religious seasons to exploit public religious sentiment.<\/p>\n<p>It also highlighted that Kenya\u2019s pre-emptive security measures provide a strong example for countering planned attacks, while warning that Al-Shabaab remains the most dangerous armed group threatening security in the Horn of Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tuesday February 24, 2026 The Al-Azhar Observatory for Combating Extremism has warned of escalating terrorist threats along the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102122,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[57993,57996,57995,2781,80,57994,6033,41889,57997,48967,10806],"class_list":{"0":"post-102121","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-kenya","8":"tag-alazhar","9":"tag-along","10":"tag-alshabaab","11":"tag-border","12":"tag-kenya","13":"tag-observatory","14":"tag-of","15":"tag-rising","16":"tag-somalikenyan","17":"tag-threats","18":"tag-warns"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@africa\/116126920470593601","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}