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| Africa: Horn |
| Kenya on alert following assassination attempt on Somali MP |
| 2005-06-06 |
| After making an attempt on the life of Somalia PM, the terrorists are said to have moved into Kenya and intelligence officers are following leads to their capture . Kenya's security forces are on high alert following information that two groups linked to terror mastermind Osama bin Laden may have entered the country. The two terror groups, Al-Itthad-al-Islamiya and Al-Takfir Wal Hijra are linked to Mr Musab al Zarqawi, a close ally of bin Laden. Kenyas' security apparatus, say sources, has information to the effect that Zarqawi previously had terror cells in both Kenya and Somalia. But the security sources were quick to state that they are in control of the situation. "As long as we have a clue on what could be going on, there is no cause for panic. It would have been a different story if we did not know what is happening," the sources said. The sources say the two groups were responsible for the attempted murder of Somalia Prime Minister Mohamed Ali Gedi last month. Gedi, who has since returned to Kenya, narrowly escaped death when a grenade exploded at the Mogadishu stadium just as he was preparing to address a rally. He was quickly whisked away and flown back to Kenya where he has been living since the transitional Somali government was elected last October. Also living in Kenya is Somalia President-elect Abdullahi Yusuf. Sources in Kenya's Intelligence community say that after a period of inactivity in the region, Zarqawi, who is blamed for most bombings in Iraq, may have revived his contacts, hence the new alert. Zarqawis' Kenyan link is suspected to be the conduit for passing money to terror recruits at Kiamboni in Somalia and operates under the fake name of Abdul Karim. According to the sources, Zarqawi first established contacts in Kenya at Lamu and at Ras Kiamboni, in the South of Somalia, 1996. Ras Kiamboni, an Indian Ocean island, is a stone's throw away from the Kenyan islands of Siyu and Faza near Lamu. Both Kenya and the US intelligence concur that Zarqawi, at the behest of Osama bin Laden, was the key planner and financier of the twin terrorist attacks on the American embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam on August 7, 1998, that left close to 200 people dead. Zarqawi is one of the most wanted terrorists in the world. The US government has a 25 million dollar (Sh2 billion) prize on his head. Kenya and US Intelligence believe Fazul and a Yugoslav national were masterminds of the bombing of the Paradise Hotel on November 22, 2002. Fifteen people were killed in the attack. Four alleged accomplices of Fazul are already undergoing trial before Nairobi Chief Magistrate Aggrey Muchelule. Ras Kiamboni is believed to be the hideout for Al-Ittihad operatives which is a cell within bin Ladens' Al Qaeda network. Security sources say Kiamboni has a secret training camp for terrorist cells courtesy of bin Laden and his sidekicks, Zarqawi and Fazul. Another suspected link to Zarqawi is Hassan Awil, a graduate of Al-Awal University in Baghdad. He is on record as vowing that the Somali government currently in Nairobi would settle in Mogadishu "only over his dead body." Awil is suspected to have had a direct hand in the bombing at Mogadishu stadium three weeks ago and in which the Somali prime minister-elect narrowly escaped death. Muslim clerics seeking to establish an Islamic state in Somalia set up Al-Itihaad in 1980s. Following the ouster of President Said Barre and the disintegration of the Somali state in 1991, the Al-Itihaad formed it's own militia with its main training camp at Ras-Kiamboni. Terror activities by the group first came into limelight in 1996 when Ethiopian authorities claimed the group had attempted to assassinate an Ethiopian cabinet minister and attacked hotels in the capital Addis Ababa. And last week, Ethiopia Prime Minister Meles Zenawi alleged that the group has re-activated operations with targets in his country and Kenya. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #3 Kenya has a sizeable muslim population along its coast region. Steve's right - they'd like the population to be all-muslim. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2005-06-06 18:20 |
| #2 Big Jim: they ain't Islamic enough. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2005-06-06 18:01 |
| #1 What kind of beef could the dune loons possibly have with Kenya? |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2005-06-06 17:11 |