Johannesburg – Militant jihadist group al-Shabaab is using women as spies in the Lamu, Tana River and Garissa counties of Kenya where the country’s security forces are carrying out an ongoing security operation dubbed "Linda Boni", Kenya’s Daily Nation has reported.

Details have also emerged of al-Shabaab’s intentions to carry out attacks on security force camps in the area where the ongoing military operation, which was launched in 2015, to flush out the militants is being carried out.

Security forces in charge of the area confirmed that the terrorists were using women as spies and that as a result, the East African country’s security forces had been forced to evict the women out of a number of villages.

“We are extra cautious nowadays. We have on several occasions chased away very beautiful women whom we suspect of being spies of al-Shabaab,” said a security officer who requested anonymity.

"They always target villages that closely border our camps. They have tried establishing a close relationship with us while others are even willing to become lovers of some officers."