Kenyan students are fighting in Islamic armed groups in Somalia and Libya, an official source said here Wednesday, adding that a police anti-terrorist operation will shortly be launched at public and private universities.
Contingents of Kenyan police will be deployed at universities to eliminate possible terrorist networks, confirmed Kenyan Interior Security Deputy Minister Thomas Sakah, who said there are organized crime bands in those higher education centers.
The Kenyan universities have become radical recruitment centers for extremist and terrorist groups, such as Al Shabab and the Islamic State (ISIS). Many Kenyan students that were supposed disappeared have been seen in Somalia and Syria, training as ISIS fighters.
Sakah assured the intelligence services verified that just last year, 44 students from private universities (17 of them women) were detected in Somalia and Syria.
The terrorist groups recruit the brightest minds, particularly in the specialties of Medicine, Engineering, Nursery and Psychology.