Hiiraan Online
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
NAIROBI (HOL) ----For the Kenyan government which is struggling to contain the deadly insurgency by the Al-Qaeda-linked militants in Somalia, ISIS related talks were irrelevant until last week after two Kenyan girls were reporters to have travelled to Syria to join ISIS militants.
Salwa Ali and Tawfiq Dahir, two friends who lived in South C area in Nairobi were reported to have travelled to Turkey last week and contacted their family to inform them they joined ISIS, a terrorist
group fighting in Iraq and Syria.
The development has raised alarm among security agencies in the East African nation which now must consider ISIS as another mess brainwashing Kenyans into overseas wars behind the Al-Shabab group in the neighboring Somalia.
The girls who attended an Islamic madrassa in Nairobi haven't showed signs of religious fanaticism according to their parents who expressed dismay at their disappearance.
"My daughter has stayed in touch since she disappeared from my sight." said Rahma Aden, the mother of Tawfiq who contacted her mother from ISIS-held areas in Syria.
The development added concerns by western governments that are worried about stemming the wave of foreign fighters flocking to join ISIS's ranks.
Meanwhile, the group has been attracting an increasing number of foreign fighters from the West, analysts say.
In Kenya, perplexed Kenyans took to the social media on Tuesday, calling the government to closely monitor new potential ISIS recruits at home.
"This is unbelievable! We need to act now." Tweeted a Kenyan writer.