Signal, No Noise

August 24, 2010

Anti-terror police arrest 12 with bomb materials

Filed under: Africa,Eastern Africa,Kenya,Somalia,Terrorism,groups.Al-Shabab — mungurk @ 11:40

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By CYRUS OMBATI

Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) are holding 12 suspects they found with materials for making bombs and instructions in Mpeketoni, Lamu Isla.

The suspects include three Tanzanians who allegedly arrived from Somalia with maps of buildings in Nairobi, and instructions on assembling a bomb.

The others are Kenyans, and police said they are still interrogating them to know their mission.

The three Tanzanians had arrived in Lamu from Somalia aboard a speedboat they hired, after paying Sh20,000.

They also had bomb-making materials, which detectives believe they got from Somalia.

“We do not know their mission, but all I can say is that we have averted something,” said a source that declined to be named.

The suspects were arrested on Saturday morning and later brought to Mombasa, where they were being grilled on Sunday.

And after interrogation, the suspects are said to have disclosed the location of their accomplices who were picked up from Malindi Town.

Police said they got tips on the arrival of the Tanzanians before they moved into action.

Linked to Al-Shabaab

The arrests came barely a month after terrorists linked to Al-Shabaab detonated bombs in Kampala, Uganda, killing more than 80 people.

At least ten Kenyans are being held in Uganda over the bombings.

The latest arrest was of Suleiman Abdul Hamid who was arrested from his South C house, in Nairobi, in an operation mounted by tens of hooded police led by detectives. The arrest came three days after three Ugandans arrested in Mombasa over the same crime confessed to getting training in Somalia.

Anti Terror Police Unit said the arrests came after a month of thorough investigation.

January 18, 2010

Kenya police shoot hate cleric al-Faisal supporters

Filed under: Africa,Counterterrorism,Eastern Africa,Kenya,Nigeria,Terrorism,West Africa — mungurk @ 11:07

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Page last updated at 17:32 GMT, Friday, 15 January 2010

FAISAL’S STORY SO FAR…
Protester with portrait of Abdullah al-Faisal

At least five people have died after Kenyan police opened fire at supporters of a Jamaican-born Muslim cleric notorious for preaching racial hatred.

Police also fired tear gas at hundreds of stone-throwing protesters calling for Abdullah al-Faisal to be freed.

Faisal is in detention in Nairobi after Kenya failed to deport him.

Kenya wants to expel him citing his “terrorist history”. He was jailed for four years in the UK for soliciting the murder of Jews and Hindus.

An unnamed senior police officer told the AFP news agency that five people had died, while one of the protest organisers told AP that seven people had lost their lives.

Sources at the Kenyatta Hospital have confirmed that one person has died, while seven others sustained bullet wounds. Doctors say their lives are not in danger.

At least four police officers have been hospitalised, AFP reports.

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Muslim youths began the protest match after Friday prayers at the Jamia Mosque in the centre of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi.

They wanted to present a petition to Immigration Minister Otieno Kajwang and Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s office.

But police had banned the march and intervened.

One banner read: “Release al-Faisal, he is innocent”, reports the AFP news agency.

Reuters news agency reports that some people joined the security forces in attacking the protesters.

Faisal was arrested on 31 December 2009, a week after he is believed to have arrived from Tanzania.

Mr Kajwang says The Gambia has agreed to take him in but Kenya was unable to send him there because airlines in Nigeria refused to carry him.

Tanzania has also refused to let him re-enter its territory.

Faisal was born Trevor William Forrest in St James, Jamaica – though he left the island 26 years ago, initially living in the UK.

His parents were Salvation Army officers and he was raised as a Christian.

But at the age of 16 he went to Saudi Arabia – where he is believed to have spent eight years – and became a Muslim.

He took a degree in Islamic Studies in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, before coming back to the UK.

Faisal spent years travelling the UK preaching racial hatred urging his audience to kill Jews, Hindus and Westerners.

A year after being deported from the UK in 2007, he was preaching in South Africa.

The Kenyan authorities said Faisal had arrived in Kenya on 24 December 2009 after travelling through Nigeria, Angola, Mozambique, Swaziland and Malawi and Tanzania.

January 8, 2010

Kenya deports Abdullah Ibrahim el-Faisal

Filed under: Africa,Caribbean America,Counterterrorism,Eastern Africa,Jamaica,Kenya,Terrorism — mungurk @ 08:22

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Kenya deports Jamaican-born Muslim cleric

January 7, 2010 — Updated 0954 GMT (1754 HKT)

Nairobi, Kenya (CNN) — Kenya has deported a Jamaican-born Muslim cleric who was previously jailed in Britain for inciting racial hatred, the Kenyan immigration minister said Thursday.

Abdullah Ibrahim el-Faisal was deported to the West African country of Gambia, Kenyan Immigration Minister Otieno Kajwang told reporters in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

Kenyan anti-terror police picked up Abdullah Ibrahim el-Faisal days ago after he passed into the country unnoticed, police spokesman Eric Kiraithe told CNN on Tuesday.

Kenya’s immigration minister declared him an unwanted person in Kenya, Kiraithe said, adding that el-Faisal is a threat to Kenya’s security with “proven” terrorism links.

El-Faisal was sentenced in London to nine years in prison in March 2003 for inciting others to commit murder and for stirring racial hatred. He had been arrested a year earlier.

He was paroled in 2007 after serving half his sentence and deported to Jamaica, according to British news reports.

El-Faisal entered Kenya from Tanzania, Kiraithe said, but it was not clear when.

Kiraithe acknowledged there had been “lapses” between Kenya’s police and immigration that allowed the cleric to enter the country.

Kenyan Muslim groups have protested the moves to deport el-Faisal.

“He is being treated unfairly,” said Al-Amin Kimathi, the executive coordinator for the Muslim Forum of Human Rights, “He has committed no crimes in Jamaica and has not committed any crimes in Kenya. There is a double standard at work.”

Before his sentence in Britain, el-Faisal had spent much of the previous decade preaching in various mosques and selling audiotapes across the country.

In one of the tapes, he said, “How do you fight the Hindus? You have to bomb the Indian businesses. And as for the Jews, you kill them physically. Then you will overcome them in Kashmir and in Palestine.”

His lawyers in Britain had asked the judge in his case to consider the Muslim convert “misguided rather than malicious.”

The defense stressed that most of his preachings were benign interpretations of the Quran. They also said el-Faisal, a husband and father who had been living in the east London neighborhood of Stratford, had been a leader in his community.

CNN’s David McKenzie contributed to this report.

December 10, 2009

Kenya on high alert over Al-Shaabab threats

Filed under: Africa,Kenya,Terrorism — mungurk @ 08:50

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Written By:Margaret Kalekye/kna   , Posted: Sun, Dec 06, 2009

Caption: Somalia has had no effective government for almost 20 years.

Internal Security Minister Prof. George Saitoti has assured that the country’s security forces are on high alert following threats by Somali’s Al-Shaabab militia group.

Speaking in Ngong, Saitoti said Kenya was ready to deal with any group intending to violate its borders.

The Minister was reacting to threats by the extremists to invade Kenya over her alleged support for the Somali Federal Transition Government.

The hard-line Islamist militia linked to al-Qaeda, has also threatened to launch attacks in Tanzania and Uganda.

Suicide attack

On Thursday, four Somali ministers were killed in a suicide bomb attack during a graduation ceremony of medical students.

Officials said Health Minister Qamar Aden Ali, Education Minister Ahmed Abdulahi Waayeel and Higher Education Minister Ibrahim Hassan Addow were all killed, while Sports Minister Saleban Olad Roble  succumbed to his injuries on Saturday at The Nairobi Aga Khan hospital where he was admitted.

Information Minister Dahir Mohamud Gelle said the male bomber had been dressed in women’s clothing, “complete with a veil and a female’s shoes”.

At least two journalists were also among the dead but most of those killed were reported to have been students. More than 60 people were injured.

Somalia’s President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, has described the attack as a “national disaster”.

Somalia has had no effective government for almost 20 years.

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