Official: 200 militants split from al-Shabab, pledge allegiance to ISIS
NAIROBI, Kenya -- About 200 Islamic extremist fighters have split from Somalia's al-Shabab rebels, who are allied to al-Qaeda, and have instead pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, Kenya's police chief said Thursday.
The splinter group is operating around the Somali border in Kenya's north, and has carried out at least two attacks in the last two weeks, killing one soldier and two civilians in Mandera County, Joseph Boinett told The Associated Press.
The split in al-Shabab poses an extra challenge for Kenya's security forces, Boinnet said. Among those who have joined the pro-Islamic State faction of al-Shabab is Mohamed Kuno, alias Gamadhere, who is wanted for the April 2 attack by al-Shabab gunmen on a Kenya's Garissa University in the country's east, in which 148 people were killed, Boinnet said.
Al-Shabab has vowed retribution on Kenya for sending troops to Somalia to fight the Islamic extremists. Kenya has experienced a series of al-Shabab attacks since it sent its troops to Somalia in 2011.
The defections are causing tensions within al-Shabab.
Two men, an American citizen and U.S. resident defected, defected from al-Shabab and surrendered to Somali authorities earlier this month fearing they would killed by their former colleagues on suspicion that they are Islamic State supporters. Al-Qaeda and Islamic State are rivals for jihadi recruits
In October, Nigeria's Boko Haram extremists urged al-Shabab rebels to join them in pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group and thus abandon al-Qaeda.
The appeal from an unidentified armed fighter is part of a wider courting of al-Shabab. Similar messages came nearly two weeks ago from militant extremists in Iraq, Sinai, Syria, and Yemen.