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Elite force: A team of KDF’s Special
Forces
doing a hostage rescue manoeuvre
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Thursday, December 5, 2013 BY DOMINIC WABALA
The
Special Force, a unit of KDF, is arguably the best trained military
squad in the country. A team of 50 was deployed during the Kismayu
operation in 2011. Star writer DOMINIC WABALA visited and watched as the
soldiers train at their Gilgil base.
Armed with
one of the world's latest state-of-the-art FN Herstal SCAH-CAL rifle, a
team of less than 50 Kenya Defence Force elite Special Forces unit
landed on the Kismayu beach on the night of October 27, 2011.
Members of the unit, clad on balaclavas and night vision goggles, sat pensively in three dinghies flanked by three gun-mounted Speed Boat Units as they waited for darkness to descend on Kismayu before executing the raid.
The rubber dinghies bobbed in the cold and rough Indian Ocean waters, the Special Force commandos who had only been informed about their mission shortly after boarding the ship at Manda caressed their rifles, night vision goggles attached to their helmets scanning the horizon.
This was a life and death mission never conducted before. It was a baptism of fire for the unit that was expecting resistance from the insurgent group that had promised 'the mother of all battles' for any invading force.
Their task was to clear the beach for the amphibious team that waited patiently in navy ships including the newly commissioned 150 metres long MV Jasiri that had only days ago arrived at Mtongwe in Mombasa.
The Special Force is probably Kenya's most elite fighting force tasked with hostage rescue, insertion, interdictions, reconnaissance, intelligence collection behind enemy lines and supporting the Kenya Defence Forces.
Kenyans were first made aware of the existence of the Special Force when when pictures of heavily armed troops riding on dinghies in the high seas were released by the Kenya Defence Force during the historic amphibious landing on Kismayu beach. They played the biggest role in the capture of Kismayu from al Shabaab.
The group landed on the beach at about 10pm and
had by midnight taken control of the port city. The main KDF force then
joined them from the mainland the next day.
An earlier attempt to drop the Special Force commandos into the new Kismayu airport were thwarted by 40 knot strong winds, forcing the troops to opt for the beach landing.
After disembarking from the rubber dinghies escorted by the Speed Boat Unit, the Special Forces team equipped with night vision goggles sprinted for one kilometre on the beach, the Kismayu University and Old Airport scanning the ground for any resistance.
After securing the area, they signaled the rest of the KDF team aboard navy ships who then executed an amphibious landing and took positions around the city. While one amphibious team secured the sandy dunes between the beach and the Kismayu University, the other units converged at strategic installations and locations
An advance Special Force party also secured the New Kismayu Airport before alerting the rest of the KDF troops that had been engaging al Shabaab on the land from Jilib to drive into the port city and take over.
When dawn broke out the next day, the insurgents upon realising the port city was seized abandoned their weapons, dorned civilian clothes and blended into the crowd.
One group of about 100 fighters that remained holed up in a quarry that doubled up as an armory were killed in an airstrike by KDF helicopter gunships.
It had taken the Special Forces leaders one month to plan and execute the Kismayu takeover. Even the SF commandos did not know where and when the plan would be executed until they boarded the naval ship and were in deep waters.
To keep the mission a secret, the team underwent a one month rigorous training on a beach similar to Kismayu. All along they were informed that they were scheduled to land at Kuday beach in Somalia.
KDF Special Forces is the only African military unit to use the FN Herstal SCAH-CAL assault rifle. Other units using the rifles include the US Navy SEALs, the Los Angeles Police Department's SWAT, US Customs and Border Protection Officer of Air and Marine Interdiction Unit, US Marines, South Korean Army 707th Special Mission Battalion, Poland's Biuro Ochrony Rzadu, Peruvian Grupo Fuerzas Especiales (GRUFE), Mexican Policia Federal, Belgian Federal Police Special Units, Chilean Marine Corps, the French Recherche Assistance Intervention Dissuasion and Commandement des Operations Speciales (COS), the German Federal Police counter-terrorism unit GSG-9 and the German State police units including Mobiles Einsatzkommandos (SEK) and Spezialiensatzkommando (SEK).
The assault rifle the Special Forces used spots a reversible charging handle and an ambidextrous safety firing selector, a 7.62mm calibre magazine and foldable butt.
The rifle designed in Belgium and manufactured in California US features an upper Picatinny rail for optional day or night sighting systems and lower and side rails for light, laser and fore grip as well as a grenade launcher. It also has a sling, bipod, carrying bag and blank firing system.
The Special Forces also carry a GLock 30s automatic pistol as a sidearm strapped to the thigh in a sturdy water resistant holster. The .45 calibre firearm carries 20 rounds of ammunition in each of its two magazines with a polymer frame and Tenifer coated steel slide.
Within two hours, the highly trained commandos had secured all of the vital installations including Kismayu University and the adjacent old airport, the sea port and the new Kismayu airport without firing a single bullet.
The elite forces carried a patrol bag, weighing between 35 and 40kg, containing medical pack, clothes, an adult emergency blanket to protect them from fire or chemicals and dry rations to last seven days. With the binoculars with night vision, a sleeping bag and a rifle, the Special Force team is expected to accomplish their mission with speed and precision.
Only soldiers aged below 27 are recruited into the Special Force, according to senior military officials, because they are expected to be agile and quickly deployed on missions.
“Joining the Special Force is voluntary but only those below the age of 27 with educational competency of mean grade C+ in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education are recruited. The drop out rate is very high. Only 25 per cent of those who volunteer graduate. The training is demanding both physically and mentally,” a senior officer told the Star.
The team first undergoes special qualification course for eight and half months before going to Britain, US and Canada for further training.
Each member of the team is trained in engineering, medicine, signals, intelligence collection, trained in the use of a variety of weapons and the roles are interchangeable.
Apart from the weapons and hand-to-hand combat skills, the commandos are trained to jump off planes using parachutes from as high as 800 feet both in the day and at night using night vision goggles with little or no assistance.
The jumps are done by the troops carrying more than 40kg of equipment. Once they touch down, they have to execute a roll ready for firing. This includes clean fatigue during which the troops jump without equipment, static jumps, military free fall, and free fall display jumps execute on ceremonial days.
In rappelling, the troops are trained how to drop very fast by rope from a low flying helicopter in very small numbers for quick operations. It is done in places with no landing zone close to enemy location especially during urban warfare.
“In special operations, we don't have the luxury of surprise. We attack positions that are well fortified and speed is our biggest asset. Our operations are intelligence-led and need a lot of planning,” a senior KDF officer who sought anonymity because of the nature of the Special Force assignments said.
Special Force commandos enjoy much more privileges than their other counterparts and are more exposed.
They are issued with state-of-the-art mobile phones and wristwatches that assist them in their operations especially to synchronise timings.
Before they are deployed on any mission, the Special Force are subjected to extensive planning and rehearsal especially on the characteristics of the operation, strength tactics, simple planning, secret planning where emphasis is put on individual skills.
A Special Force sniper armed with special rifle mounted with regular and night vision binoculars can stay concealed in a location for 72 hours.
First mooted in 1996, the unit was finally established in 2010 after senior KDF officers realised the importance of such a unit and the willingness of soldiers to be part of the group.
Members of the Special Force are picked from the various military units across the country and undergo a rigorous two-year training apart from the initial military training.
The training is conducted at their base in Gilgil and Lanet, apart from sorties in the harsh terrains of Turkana, Isiolo and the coast.
One of the toughest exercise is dropping from a 34 foot tower which is the challenging human height phobia level.
Only, 25 per cent of those who volunteer to join the Special Force graduate after the two years. This is attributed to the physically and mentally challenging training the inductees are taken through.
Only three women have volunteered to join the Special Forces but even then they dropped out after failing to measure up to the rigorous training.
Even among all KDF units, Special Forces are revered and treated as the creme de la creme of the soldiers. The Rangers, which is the artillery equivalent for the Special Force, comes second with the green beret unit coming third.
Members of the unit, clad on balaclavas and night vision goggles, sat pensively in three dinghies flanked by three gun-mounted Speed Boat Units as they waited for darkness to descend on Kismayu before executing the raid.
The rubber dinghies bobbed in the cold and rough Indian Ocean waters, the Special Force commandos who had only been informed about their mission shortly after boarding the ship at Manda caressed their rifles, night vision goggles attached to their helmets scanning the horizon.
This was a life and death mission never conducted before. It was a baptism of fire for the unit that was expecting resistance from the insurgent group that had promised 'the mother of all battles' for any invading force.
Their task was to clear the beach for the amphibious team that waited patiently in navy ships including the newly commissioned 150 metres long MV Jasiri that had only days ago arrived at Mtongwe in Mombasa.
The Special Force is probably Kenya's most elite fighting force tasked with hostage rescue, insertion, interdictions, reconnaissance, intelligence collection behind enemy lines and supporting the Kenya Defence Forces.
Kenyans were first made aware of the existence of the Special Force when when pictures of heavily armed troops riding on dinghies in the high seas were released by the Kenya Defence Force during the historic amphibious landing on Kismayu beach. They played the biggest role in the capture of Kismayu from al Shabaab.
 |
| well-trained: A soldier rappels from a helicopter. |
An earlier attempt to drop the Special Force commandos into the new Kismayu airport were thwarted by 40 knot strong winds, forcing the troops to opt for the beach landing.
After disembarking from the rubber dinghies escorted by the Speed Boat Unit, the Special Forces team equipped with night vision goggles sprinted for one kilometre on the beach, the Kismayu University and Old Airport scanning the ground for any resistance.
After securing the area, they signaled the rest of the KDF team aboard navy ships who then executed an amphibious landing and took positions around the city. While one amphibious team secured the sandy dunes between the beach and the Kismayu University, the other units converged at strategic installations and locations
An advance Special Force party also secured the New Kismayu Airport before alerting the rest of the KDF troops that had been engaging al Shabaab on the land from Jilib to drive into the port city and take over.
When dawn broke out the next day, the insurgents upon realising the port city was seized abandoned their weapons, dorned civilian clothes and blended into the crowd.
One group of about 100 fighters that remained holed up in a quarry that doubled up as an armory were killed in an airstrike by KDF helicopter gunships.
It had taken the Special Forces leaders one month to plan and execute the Kismayu takeover. Even the SF commandos did not know where and when the plan would be executed until they boarded the naval ship and were in deep waters.
To keep the mission a secret, the team underwent a one month rigorous training on a beach similar to Kismayu. All along they were informed that they were scheduled to land at Kuday beach in Somalia.
KDF Special Forces is the only African military unit to use the FN Herstal SCAH-CAL assault rifle. Other units using the rifles include the US Navy SEALs, the Los Angeles Police Department's SWAT, US Customs and Border Protection Officer of Air and Marine Interdiction Unit, US Marines, South Korean Army 707th Special Mission Battalion, Poland's Biuro Ochrony Rzadu, Peruvian Grupo Fuerzas Especiales (GRUFE), Mexican Policia Federal, Belgian Federal Police Special Units, Chilean Marine Corps, the French Recherche Assistance Intervention Dissuasion and Commandement des Operations Speciales (COS), the German Federal Police counter-terrorism unit GSG-9 and the German State police units including Mobiles Einsatzkommandos (SEK) and Spezialiensatzkommando (SEK).
The assault rifle the Special Forces used spots a reversible charging handle and an ambidextrous safety firing selector, a 7.62mm calibre magazine and foldable butt.
The rifle designed in Belgium and manufactured in California US features an upper Picatinny rail for optional day or night sighting systems and lower and side rails for light, laser and fore grip as well as a grenade launcher. It also has a sling, bipod, carrying bag and blank firing system.
The Special Forces also carry a GLock 30s automatic pistol as a sidearm strapped to the thigh in a sturdy water resistant holster. The .45 calibre firearm carries 20 rounds of ammunition in each of its two magazines with a polymer frame and Tenifer coated steel slide.
Within two hours, the highly trained commandos had secured all of the vital installations including Kismayu University and the adjacent old airport, the sea port and the new Kismayu airport without firing a single bullet.
The elite forces carried a patrol bag, weighing between 35 and 40kg, containing medical pack, clothes, an adult emergency blanket to protect them from fire or chemicals and dry rations to last seven days. With the binoculars with night vision, a sleeping bag and a rifle, the Special Force team is expected to accomplish their mission with speed and precision.
Only soldiers aged below 27 are recruited into the Special Force, according to senior military officials, because they are expected to be agile and quickly deployed on missions.
“Joining the Special Force is voluntary but only those below the age of 27 with educational competency of mean grade C+ in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education are recruited. The drop out rate is very high. Only 25 per cent of those who volunteer graduate. The training is demanding both physically and mentally,” a senior officer told the Star.
The team first undergoes special qualification course for eight and half months before going to Britain, US and Canada for further training.
Each member of the team is trained in engineering, medicine, signals, intelligence collection, trained in the use of a variety of weapons and the roles are interchangeable.
Apart from the weapons and hand-to-hand combat skills, the commandos are trained to jump off planes using parachutes from as high as 800 feet both in the day and at night using night vision goggles with little or no assistance.
The jumps are done by the troops carrying more than 40kg of equipment. Once they touch down, they have to execute a roll ready for firing. This includes clean fatigue during which the troops jump without equipment, static jumps, military free fall, and free fall display jumps execute on ceremonial days.
In rappelling, the troops are trained how to drop very fast by rope from a low flying helicopter in very small numbers for quick operations. It is done in places with no landing zone close to enemy location especially during urban warfare.
“In special operations, we don't have the luxury of surprise. We attack positions that are well fortified and speed is our biggest asset. Our operations are intelligence-led and need a lot of planning,” a senior KDF officer who sought anonymity because of the nature of the Special Force assignments said.
Special Force commandos enjoy much more privileges than their other counterparts and are more exposed.
They are issued with state-of-the-art mobile phones and wristwatches that assist them in their operations especially to synchronise timings.
Before they are deployed on any mission, the Special Force are subjected to extensive planning and rehearsal especially on the characteristics of the operation, strength tactics, simple planning, secret planning where emphasis is put on individual skills.
A Special Force sniper armed with special rifle mounted with regular and night vision binoculars can stay concealed in a location for 72 hours.
First mooted in 1996, the unit was finally established in 2010 after senior KDF officers realised the importance of such a unit and the willingness of soldiers to be part of the group.
Members of the Special Force are picked from the various military units across the country and undergo a rigorous two-year training apart from the initial military training.
The training is conducted at their base in Gilgil and Lanet, apart from sorties in the harsh terrains of Turkana, Isiolo and the coast.
One of the toughest exercise is dropping from a 34 foot tower which is the challenging human height phobia level.
Only, 25 per cent of those who volunteer to join the Special Force graduate after the two years. This is attributed to the physically and mentally challenging training the inductees are taken through.
Only three women have volunteered to join the Special Forces but even then they dropped out after failing to measure up to the rigorous training.
Even among all KDF units, Special Forces are revered and treated as the creme de la creme of the soldiers. The Rangers, which is the artillery equivalent for the Special Force, comes second with the green beret unit coming third.
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