June 16: Sixty people are massacred in raids over two consecutive nights in Kenya’s Lamu region/FILE
While the group have lost their urban strongholds in Somalia since being forced out of the capital Mogadishu in 2011, they still control vast swathes of the countryside.
In neighbouring Kenya, a number of shootings and bombings have been blamed on the Al-Qaeda-linked rebels or their local supporters.
– 2011 –
October: Kenyan troops cross into southern Somalia to fight the Shabaab, accused by Nairobi of being behind a series of kidnappings of westerners on their soil. The Shabaab threaten retaliatory attacks against key Kenyan interests.
– 2012 –
January 1: Five die in a grenade attack and shootout in a bar in Garissa. A similar attack just two months previously also killed five and left many injured.
January 12: At least six people die in an attack on a police post in the northeast.
March 10: Violence reaches the capital, as nine people die and around 60 are injured in a grenade attack on a Nairobi bus terminal. The Shebab deny involvement.
July 1: An attack on two churches in Garissa claims 18 lives and wounds 40 near the refugee camp of Dadaab.
November 18: Nine people are killed in a bomb attack on a bus in Nairobi’s Eastleigh district, which is nicknamed “Little Mogadishu”.
December 7: A grenade attack near a mosque in Eastleigh leaves five dead.
– 2013 –
March 3: Twelve people including six policemen are killed in attacks against security forces on the Kenyan coast ahead of general elections. The “Mombasa Republican Council” (MRC) fighting for secession of the mainly Muslim coastal region is suspected.
March 28: Around 100 MRC members, according to police, attack a casino in Malindi, a seaside resort north of Mombasa, claiming at least seven lives.
April 18: Armed men attack a hotel in Garissa, killing six.
June 11: Six people — including a number of children — are killed when their car is attacked by armed men in Mandera, in the far northeast of the country.
September 21-24: At least 67 people die when the Shabaab attack Nairobi’s Westgate Mall.
Mid-December: Some 13 people are killed in four attacks in five days as the country celebrates the 50th anniversary of independence.
– 2014 –
March 31: At least six people are killed in three simultaneous explosions in Eastleigh.
May 3: Four people are killed and a dozen injured when a grenade is thrown on a bus in Mombasa, Kenya’s second city. The following day, two explosions on buses in the centre of Nairobi kill three and injure 86.
May 16: At least 10 people are killed and 90 injured after a bomb blast at a market in Nairobi. A British travel firm evacuates 400 tourists from the coast in response to “terrorist threats”.
June 16: Sixty people are massacred in raids over two consecutive nights in Kenya’s Lamu region, which is popular with tourists.
July 5: Late-night attacks leave at least 21 people dead in the Lamu coastal region. A Shabaab spokesman claims responsibility, but police blame regional separatists.
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