Mogadishu (Halbeeg) – Al-Shabab group has been ranked the deadliest group in the African continent, a U.K. based think tank said on Wednesday.
The group which once controlled a large swath of land has been fighting Somali government since 2007.
In a report, the London-based, Control Risks (CR) said the group which emerged a decade ago launched deadliest attacks in the continent.
The reports said Al-Shabab conducted 60% of the attacks that occurred in the continent.
The consultancy found that the number of incidents carried out by all Islamist groups in Africa rose from 317 in 2013 to 1,549 for the period April 2017 to April 2018.
“Somalia, which witnessed 879 incidents over the period, accounted for over half of the Islamist militant incidents recorded across sub-Saharan Africa” states the report.
Al-Shabab in Kenya
The Al-Shabab also attacked several countries backing Somali government among them are Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia.
The other East African country affected by Al-Shabab attacks was Kenya which suffered 79 Al-Shabab attacks, according to the report.
Al-Shabab is an offshoot of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) which was disintegrated by Ethiopia’s troops who invaded Somalia in 2006.
Last month, a Washington-based, Africa Centre for Strategic Studies ranked Al-Shabab as the most dangerous group in Africa.
The group killed 4834 people in Somalia from March last year, the number stands at 49% of the combined 10,535 people killed across African continent by groups including Boko Haram, Islamic State (ISIS), and al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
Over time, attacks by Al-Shabab against civilians in the Horn of African nation were rising gradually bit by bit, just a few in 2006 to full blown after African Union sent its troops to Somalia to help the government in peace restoration in 2007.
The group carried out deadly IED attacks in the capital including hotels, graduation ceremonies, government institutions and markets.
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