Al-Shabaab militants launch attack on US military base in Kenya, killing three Americans.

File photo of al-Shabaab fighters. NPR/AP.

Al-Qaeda affiliate al-Shabaab launched an attack on a US military base in Kenya, killing three Americans. NPR. The dead have not been identified but includes a US service member and two contractors. The base provided counter-terror training for local forces. Al-Shabaab launched a ground attack and briefly penetrated the base defenses before being driven back. At least six airplanes, including two small contractor planes and two helicopters, were damaged or destroyed in the attack, along with some ground vehicles. The attack comes after a major car bombing in Somalia carried out by al-Shabaab killed almost 80 people. The US launched drone strikes on al-Shabaab in response to that attack and will probably do so again in response to this attack. 

My Comment:

Another major attack by al-Shabaab, which is quickly becoming one of the more active terror groups right now. ISIS and core al-Qaeda have largely been finished but al-Shabaab is still launching large attacks in their region and drawing quite a bit of attention. Indeed, it seems that the only terror groups that are very active now are affiliates and spinoffs of ISIS and al-Qaeda. 

I'd say that this attack was probably a success for the group. I say probably because I haven't heard any reports on if they took casualties or not. My guess is that they probably had to have and that would blunt their victory if they lost a bunch of fighters. But they did get revenge for the drone strikes and managed to kill three Americans. They also supposedly used both small arms and indirect fire, probably mortars, to launch the attack, suggesting a larger unit with trained fighters. 

As for the United States, one does have to wonder how these fighters were able to pull this off. My guess is that local forces contracted to protect the base were caught off guard, which explains why they were able to inflict so much damage. Once those local fighters got organized they were able to repel the invaders but too late to prevent the death and destruction. 

However, I am guessing that there will be pretty strong blowback for al-Shabaab for targeting US forces. President Trump is not in the mood to deal softly with people who kill Americans and I would expect some severe bombings and drone strikes to target al-Shabaab bases. If Trump's new doctrine holds he may even go after their leadership like he did with ISIS and the Quds Force. 

I do think that US bases in the region should probably be better prepared for these kinds of attacks. A light squad of infantry can be pretty useful in attacking a base, even if it has strong defenses, and I don't know if this base did. Either way, they should lock things down and focus on making sure that these kinds of attacks aren't as successful in the future even as our Air Force and/or Navy make more direct moves against these terrorists.