Operation Linda Nchi
| Operation Linda Nchi | |||||||||
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| Part of the Somali Civil War (2009–present) and the Somali–Kenyan conflict | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
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Kenya TFG Raskamboni Front ASWJ Azania | Al-Shabaab | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Julius Karangi |
Ibrahim al-Afghani | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| Kenya: More than 6,000 security personnel at peak, including police | Al-Shabaab: Total size of 3,000 "hard-core fighters", 2,000 "allied militants" at end of 2012 | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
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Total: 21–72 killed, 152 injured
67 allied forces killed One Harbin Z-9 destroyed (mechanical failure) | Total: 700 militants killed, 61 captured | ||||||||
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20 civilians killed (Somalia) 6 policemen killed and 17 security forces injured (Kenya) | |||||||||
| History of Kenya |
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| Kenya portal |
Operation Linda Nchi (Swahili: Linda Nchi; "Protect the Country") was the Kenya Defence Forces' invasion of southern Somalia beginning in 2011. The Kenyan government declared the operation completed in March 2012, but its forces then joined AMISOM in Somalia.
The Kenyan government aimed to create a buffer zone between Al-Shabaab and instability in southern Somalia, and the Kenyan homeland. However, at a deeper level, the Kenyans desired "to be seen as a reliable partner in the U.S.-led 'global war on terrorism', there were institutional interests within the KDF, and key political elites within the Kenyan government, notably Minister for Internal Security George Saitoti, the Defence Minister Yusuf Haji and several senior security chiefs, advocated for intervention to advance their own economic and political interests."