Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) has changed its strategy for the fight against Al-Shabaab. KDF now targets mosques that the extremists have used to recruit new members into its cells.
In the past, the much-feared Anti-Terror Police Unit (ATPU) never shied away from raiding these places of worship. However, the raids caused a ruckus and proved quite unpopular.
By collaborating with Kenya’s National Police Service, KDF now hopes to preach the message of anti-terrorism into mosques along the coastal and northeastern parts of the country.
Through this strategy, KDF hopes to defeat the ideologies that Al-Shabaab has always relied on to push its agenda into the hearts and minds of sympathizers in the region.
KDF relies on its Imams to spearhead the infiltration of the mosques that have provided the extremists with willing fighters in the past.