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| Africa: East |
| Terrorists in Kenya Killings Posed as Fishermen |
| 2003-11-06 |
| Registration req’d The terrorists who attacked an Israeli resort and an airliner along the Kenyan coast last November posed as lobstermen while they smuggled missiles and other weapons from Somalia aboard a wooden boat, according to a United Nations report. The report, a detailed study of the arms flow into Somalia, was delivered to the United Nations Sanctions Committee this week, but has not yet been made public. It provides the most comprehensive look to date at the attacks, linked to Al Qaeda, that killed 12 Kenyans, 3 Israelis and at least 2 suicide bombers at a hotel full of Israeli tourists in Mombasa, Kenya. An attack against an airliner carrying Israelis home failed when the missiles missed their target. The study describes how the terrorists prepared for more than a year for the Nov. 28, 2002, attacks. In their pose as fishermen, they conducted surveillance for months along the coastline, becoming familiar figures who raised no suspicions when they later turned to weapons smuggling. The SA-7B missiles used in the Mombasa attack came either from Yemen, a major source of smuggled arms in Somalia, or Eritrea, which had made an arms shipment to one of the major Somali warlords in 1998. Four separate groups took part in the Mombasa attack, the experts found. One cell remained in Mogadishu, Somalia, another attacked the hotel while a third went to the Mombasa airport. A fourth group went to Lamu, an island off the Kenyan coast, to prepare a getaway boat. On Nov. 29, the day after the attacks, those who survived regrouped in Lamu and left two days later for Somalia by dhow, the traditional wooden boats in abundance along the coast. The attackers remained in Mogadishu for several months, living on cash allowances provided by an unidentified Sudanese financier, the report said. The report says that some of the participants in the attack have returned to Kenya and that at least four remain in Somalia. Kenya has made numerous arrests in connection with the attacks, but investigators say an undetermined number of suspects remain at large. |
| Posted by:Paul Moloney |