Did attackers jam Safaricom’s mobile network after 60 people were killed in Mpeketoni in Kenya’s Lamu County on 16 June?

This is what the Consumers Federation of Kenya (Cofek) is asking the country’s telecoms regulator and Safaricom to investigate.

Somali militant group al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the devastating attack carried out earlier this month. But Kenyan president, Uhuru Kenyatta, has alleged that local political networks were involved.

Amid the confusion surrounding the attacks; though, the country’s interior and coordination of national government cabinet secretary Joseph Ole Lenku has claimed that the Safaricom signal was ‘jammed’ during a second attack in a nearby village where nine more people were killed.

“Safaricom and Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK) need to explain to the public why the increasing number of mobile jammers and signal interceptors cannot be detected and (why) perpetrators (are not) brought to justice,” Cofek said.

“The security integrity of our cellphone communication cannot be at the whims of terrorists and anyone seeking to either intercept or jam communication,” Cofek said.

CAK and Safaricom have not confirmed or denied the allegations regarding signal jamming.

Safaricom is Kenya’s biggest mobile operator with over 20 million network connections in the country.