Al Shabaab: Armed police deployed at churches

By Standard Team

Kenyans worshipped under the watch of armed security officers as reality sunk in that Al-Shabaab is keen on making most churches and some mosques their playground and killing fields.

Just as Kenyans woke up on Sunday, breakfasted, picked their Bibles and raced to church to pray with their families, so did officers assigned to guard them oil their guns and rush to take positions at the church gates.

They then frisked the faithful and swept their bodies and bags using metal detectors, just in case some of them bore arms or explosives, and not even the children were spared the security clearance, hitherto unseen in churches.

The unspoken fear of what happened in Garissa last Sunday, when gunmen sprayed police officers at the gate with bullets, killing one of the who was a Muslim, and thereafter hurling explosives at those in the prayer hall lurked in every mind.

After the guns fell silent, 17 people lay dead, victims of reprisal attacks against Kenya Defence Force’s operation inside Somalia.

As recent killings in church have shown, neither those assigned to keep guard nor the innocent faithful are safe. When terror strikes, it does so chillingly and in large scale.

But what has aggravated the sense of fear in the country is not just the pattern of attacks targeting churchgoers, but reports by security intelligence that six terror suspects are on the prowl and are said to be targeting mosques with the hope of setting Muslims and Christians against each other.

A spot check by The Standard around most urban churches countrywide showed how worshippers were forced to form long queues and slowly file through security checks, as if they were entering a security facility like military barrack. As they were screened, police officers pulled off the routine duty assignments such as highway and foot patrols, kept watch.

Security was tightened at most churches in Nairobi, Mombasa, Nyanza, North Eastern, Coast and Rift valley in the wake of terror threats in the country.

Police headquarters confirmed hundreds of police officers have been deployed to the churches to thwart any form of attacks that may come from terrorists.

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However, this is no mean task given the terrorists are hard to identify if they mingle with the ordinary folk, except when they are being screened, by which time it may be too late as they could have exploded their devices if they happen to be suicide bombers.

The trickiest part also is that they choose to hurl the explosives from a distant or drive in with a vehicle loaded with explosives, something even the gun-wielding officers can’t stop. But just as Christians are told no one knows the day or hour of Christ’s return, so too have the churches acquired another sense of expectation and uncertainty — where will the terror cell strike next and when?

The progression from roadside attacks, to bars and hotels, and finally churches and probably mosques shows how desperate the terrorists want to throw a blanket of fear and insecurity over Kenyans in their pursuit of planting a siege mentality among ordinary citizens.

Both uniformed and plain clothes police officers were deployed to guard churches as worshippers went on with their prayers inside, and it is believed some of security officers in civilian clothes also sat in the pews of churches rated more vulnerable.

The measures took effect, as calm returned to Garissa where Al Shabaab attacked two churches. There were, however, increased patrols by lorry loads of police officers in the town who took guard particularly in places of worship including the two that were attacked last week.

Several churches also stepped up their own security increasing the number of private guards they normally have, a fact that shows the church’s cost base is going up, and that the clergy have found a new cost factor waiting to be settled using tithes and offerings collected. Father Moses Kago who is in charge of Buruburu Blessed Sacrament Church told worshippers at the morning mass that he had formed a security committee to deal with safety concerns within the church compound.

Kago appealed to the worshippers to cooperate with the security officers and the guards saying, “it was better to prevent than to complain later.”

He told worshippers they had been allocated three armed guards stationed outside the church while the church officials had increased the number of guards from three to nine so as to screen those coming in.

“Besides the armed police officers we shall also be having other plain clothes officers amongst us and this is for the safety of all of you,” he added.

Catholic Bishops will this week meet under the chairmanship of John Cardinal Njue to deliberate on the security concerns.

Njue told The Standard they would be issuing directions to their faithful on how to deal with the emerging security concerns.

Still, officials say intelligence reports show terrorists were seeking to stage more attacks in churches as police in Mombasa are said to be hunting down a wanted gang on the run.

Acting Internal Security minister Yusuf Haji said more than 700 new police contingents had been posted to North Eastern Province in the wake of increased terror attacks.

He said 14 new vehicles have also been deployed to help police patrols in new measures to combat terrorism and the main area of concentration will be Garissa and other urban areas in the North.

They include 300 regular officers, 100 Administration Police officers and 300 police reservists.