A Closer Look at al-Shabaab -- At A Glance

What is al-Shabaab?

Al-Shabaab is a Somalia-based Islamist group with ties to the al Qaeda movement. Al-Shabaab was designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. in 2008. It controls parts of Somali territory but has been losing ground to African Union troops.

Where are they active?

The group is active in Somalia and has waged attacks in neighboring countries such as Uganda and Kenya.

What have they done?

Al-Shabaab has been responsible for dozens of attacks, most recently on Thursday as heavily armed gunmen stormed a university campus in northern Kenya, leaving at least 147 people dead. Militants last month also attacked a popular hotel in Mogadishu, killing more than 10. The assaults are the latest in a series carried out in the region. Al-Shabaab was responsible for a 2013 gun-and-grenade assault on an upscale Nairobi shopping mall that killed 67 people. In the U.S., security was beefed up at the Mall of America in Minnesota in February after a video calling for attacks on major shopping centers surfaced. The video, calling for attacks on malls in the U.S., Canada and London, purportedly came from al-Shabaab.

What do they want?

Al-Shabaab has long said that its attacks in Kenya are in retaliation for the country sending troops into Somalia in 2011 to try to help the government quash the insurgency. In the parts of Somalia where they have held territory, al-Shabaab has attempted to impose a harsh form of Islamic law, even banning soccer matches and movies.

What are countries doing in response?

The Somali government, with the help of African Union forces and the U.S., has been on an intense campaign to seize territory back from al-Shabaab over the past year. However, al-Shabaab still launches regular attacks in Somalia and has ramped up its strikes in Kenya. A militant leader, Adan Garar, who helped plan the 2013 shopping-mall attack in Kenya was killed in a U.S. drone strike last month. The U.S. has targeted several al-Shabaab leaders who were suspected of involvement in the attack, including a September 2014 drone strike that killed the al-Shabaab commander known as Ahmed Abdi Godane.