Mogadishu (SD) – The US military command in Africa, AFRICOM, says it believes al-Shabaab militants who crossed the border from Somalia carried out the attack earlier this month on the Manda Bay base in Lamu – with the help of people inside Kenya. 

“We have assessed that al-Shabaab come from Somalia, but with the help of facilitators inside Kenya, Kenyans who are aspiring to be al-Shabaab,” Brig. Gen. Gregory Hadfield, deputy director of intelligence at AFRICOM. 

“We also assessed that after the attack they would return to Somalia,” he said. 

Henry Mayfield Jr. a U.S. Army Soldier and two other contractors who worked with the U.S. Department of Defense were killed in the attack, which is still under investigation. 

Although the attack came at a time of high tension between the US and Iran, AFRICOM officials said they believed the two incidents were unrelated. 

US President Donald Trump has stepped up his military operations against al-Shabaab in Somalia.