By mid-2014, the cumulative attacks began affecting Kenya's tourism industry, as Western nations issued travel warnings to their citizens.
At the militant group's urging, a significant and increasing number of terrorist attacks in Kenya have since been carried out by local Kenyans, many of whom are recent converts to Islam.
[3] Referred to as the "Kenyan Mujahideen" by Al-Shabaab's core members,[4] the converts are typically young and overzealous, poverty making them easier targets for the outfit's recruitment activities.
They included the assassination of Abubaker Shariff Ahmed "Makaburi", an Al-Shabaab associate from Kenya, who was among 21 Muslim radicals allegedly murdered by the Kenyan police since 2012.
In doing so, the officers indicated that they were acting on the direct orders of Kenya's National Security Council, which consisted of the Kenyan President, Deputy President, Chief of the Defence Forces, Inspector General of Police, National Security Intelligence Service Director, Cabinet Secretary of Interior, and Principal Secretary of Interior.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and the National Security Council of Kenya members denied operating an extrajudicial assassination program.
Additionally, the officers suggested that Western security agencies provided intelligence for the program, including the whereabouts and activities of government targets.
This had an immediate impact on Kenya's tourism industry, as European visitors left the country and hotel establishments were consequently forced to lay off staff.
[12] Elgiva Bwire Oliacha, a recent Kenyan Muslim convert, was arrested in connection with the two blasts and was sentenced to life in prison after having pleaded guilty to all charges.
In November 2011, Al-Shabaab attacked several other locations including the East African Pentecostal Church, a military convoy, and a Holiday Inn hotel.
In January, there were three reported attacks, including the killing of the chairperson of the Community Peace and Security Team in Hagadera camp as well as several police officers.
[16] On Sunday, 24 June at around 10 pm EAT, another grenade attack was reported at a Jericho Beer Garden in Mishomoroni, Kisauni Constituency in Mombasa, Kenya.
The US government (through its embassy in Kenya) had issued a warning to its citizens to leave the coastal city of Mombasa due to a possible imminent attack.
[16] Police also arrested a man who was carrying two grenades at the Nakuru Agricultural Show shortly before President Mwai Kibaki arrived to deliver a speech.
The attackers have adopted a new way of executing their plans by giving unsuspecting citizens armed home-made explosives that they in turn detonate remotely at a safe distance.
[16] On 30 September, at around 10:30am, a 9-year-old boy was killed when a grenade was hurled towards Sunday school children at St Polycarp Anglican Church along Juja road in Nairobi.
[44] On 20 November, Kenya Defence Forces were involved in an operation in Garissa, where KDF soldiers subsequently burned down the local market and shot at a crowd of protesters,[45] killing a woman and injuring 10 people.
[46][47] Maalim also suggested that the deployment of the soldiers was unconstitutional and had not received the requisite parliamentary approval,[46] and that the ensuing rampage cost Garissa entrepreneurs over Sh1.5 billion to Sh2billion in missed revenue.
The blasts took place during rush hour[58] Suspected Al-shabab militants shot three people dead and injured one person on Kenyatta Street in Garissa on 20 December at 7 pm.
[59] On 27 December, at 11 pm a police officer was shot dead while his colleague escaped unharmed after being attacked by suspected Islamists[60] in Mandera town.
Authorities said they believed the gunmen belonged to the Al-Shabaab group, as the victims included a senior prison warden, fitting a pattern of attacks against security forces.
[66] Two men believed to be suicide bombers of Somali origin died on the morning of 17 January 2013 after improvised explosive devices (IEDs) had gone off in Hagdera refugee camp in Dadaab.
[70] The officer was among several people on a break from the coordinated Linda Nchi operation in southern Somalia between the Somali military and Kenyan forces against the Al-Shabaab insurgents.
[77] On 19 March 2014, Kenyan police unintentionally parked a car outside their office that was carrying a massive cache of terrorist explosives, including 130 pounds of plastic.
[79][80] On 1 April 2014, in the Eastleigh district of Nairobi, six people were killed and dozens more injured when terrorists exploded bombs at two separate locations about three hundred meters apart.
On 16 June 2014, at least 48 people were killed when suspected Shebab militants from Somalia stormed into a Kenyan coastal town and launched a major assault on a police station, hotels and government offices, officials said.
Around 50 heavily armed gunmen drove into the town of Mpeketoni, near the coastal island and popular tourist resort of Lamu, late on Sunday.
Witnesses said they first attacked a police station, before starting to randomly shoot at civilians, some of whom had been watching the World Cup in local bars and hotels.
[89] Elgiva Bwire Oliacha, a recent Kenyan Muslim convert, was arrested in connection with the two October 2011 blasts and was sentenced to life in prison after having pleaded guilty to all charges.
Yasin was ordered to undergo psychiatric examination after he pleaded guilty upon arrest on 14 Sep, doctors found him fit to stand trial.