The Somalia-based Islamic group al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for the Nairobi shopping mall attack that began Saturday and has left at least 62 dead, saying that the assault is in retaliation for Kenyan military operations in Somalia.
The U.S. State Department considers al-Shabab, which controls portions of Somalia, to be a terrorist organization with ties to al-Qaeda and says that al-Shabab has targeted non-Muslims and those who have converted from Islam to other religions. According to theCouncil on Foreign Relations, al-Shabab is “fighting for the creation of a fundamentalist Islamic state in Somalia.”
The number of people killed in religion-related terrorist attacks in Kenya has dramatically increased in recent years. According to reports analyzed by the Pew Research Center as part of our ongoing global study of religious restrictions and hostilities, more than 300 people were killed, injured or displaced as a result of religion-related terrorist attacks in Kenya in 2012, more than twice as many as in 2011 and more than a five-fold increase from 2010.