Kenya

[Casey]

Thirty killed, thousands flee northern Kenya attackhttp://www.reuters.co.za/locales/images/clear.gif
Tue March 15, 2005 5:56 PM GMT+02:00

By David Mageria

NAIROBI (Reuters) - At least 30 people were killed and thousands forced to flee during a village raid by militiamen on Tuesday in one of the deadliest such attacks in northeast Kenya, police and aid workers said.

Police said most of the 22 villagers killed in the early morning attack on the remote El Golicha village outside Mandera on the Somali border were women and children. Eight militiamen were also killed.

"Thirty people have been killed so far, 22 are the victims of the attack who are mostly women and children and eight of the attackers have been shot down by security forces and they are still pursuing them," police spokesman Jasper Ombati said.

The area has been the scene of previous fierce fighting between Somali clans, which locals say have been fuelled by disputes over resources and politics.

Local leaders blamed the latest violence on unidentified politicians who they said had incited their clan members to force people from rival clans to flee their constituencies.

"This thing is all because of political incitement," said Isaac Ali Shaaban, the member of parliament from Mandera East, one of the constituencies in the area.

"Tension is very high and the problem is that the government is taking this matter very lightly."

The various clans have enlisted the support of heavily armed militia from the lawless Somalia to fight on their side, a local politician told Reuters.

THOUSANDS FLEE

Aid workers said the latest fighting had caused about 1,000 families of at least five members each to flee their homes to seek refuge at the nearby town of El Wak.

"Quite a number of people have left their homesteads and are moving with their families to El Wak town," said Anthony Mwangi, a spokesman from Kenya Red Cross Society.

El Wak is about 10 km (six miles) from the scene of the attack.

Ombati said the attackers had fled further north with Kenyan police flown in from Nairobi in hot pursuit. He said investigations had been launched to find out whether the militia had links with groups in Somalia or Ethiopia.

"We believe they are militiamen from the Murule clan," he said.

Early this year, around 30 people were killed and hundreds forced to flee their homes in the same region after rival clans -- the Murule and Garre -- fought over water and grazing land.

Violence has erupted in several other parts of the country in recent months mainly due to disputes over land and natural resources. Clashes have flared up in the Rift Valley province where dozens have been killed during clashes between the Kikuyu, Kenya's biggest tribe, and Maasai herdsmen over access to water and land. Sporadic fighting has also broken out in western Kenya between pastoralists and farmers.

http://www.reuters.co.za/locales/c_newsArticle.jsp;jsessionid=304a%3A42375fb7%3A607 6b06c3c8de0cf?type=topNews&localeKey=en_ZA&storyID=7907611

[Casey]

Last Update: Friday, June 10, 2005. 8:31am (AEST)
Judge dismisses Mombasa hotel bombing case

A judge in Kenya has thrown out a case against four men accused of bombing a hotel in Mombasa three years ago.

The judge said prosecutors failed to prove the four men were responsible for the attack on the Israeli-owned Paradise Hotel in Mombasa in 2002.

The men were accused of murder as a result of the suicide bombing that killed 15 people, among them three Israeli tourists.

The four accused are all Kenyans and prosecutors allege they have known terrorist links and family ties to Al Qaeda, which claimed responsibility for the attack.

But the judge said the prosecution's case was too weak and the death of the suicide bombers meant there was nothing to link the four accused to the bombing.

Lawyers for the men say they will sue the Kenyan Government for holding them in custody until the trial.

Later, police arrested one of the four men and charged him with possessing guns without a permit while he was being investigated for the hotel bombing.


http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200506/s1388947.htm

[Petronas]

DEBKAfile
June 10, 2005, 8:44 PM (GMT+02:00)

Nairobi police re-arrest one of four men acquitted by Kenya judge of charges in 2002 al Qaeda bombing of Mombasa hotel that left 15 dead including 3 Israelis.

Omar Said Omar, a computer expert, is wanted by US for questioning about 1998 US embassy bombings in E. Africa and other terrorist crimes.

DEBKAfile counter-terror sources reported after attack that lead perpetrators headed by al Qaeda's East African chief Mohammed Fazul escaped by fast boat from Mombasa to Somalia, leaving low-level locals to take the rap.

http://www.debka.com/

[Petronas]

Hunt for terrorists stepped up
Jan 03

Police have stepped up the hunt for suspected members of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network believed to have masterminded the attacks in Kenya in 1998 and 2002. Internal Security sources told the Sunday Nation yesterday that the anti-terrorism unit was looking for particularly Mombasa-born Kenyans Ahmed Salim Swedan and Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan. The two are suspected to have masterminded the 1998 bombing of the US embassy building in Nairobi as well as Paradise Hotel in Mombasa in 2002 and an abortive attack on an Israeli airliner the same day. The Kenyans are among four members of the al-Qaeda terror group wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigations of the US in connection with the two raids. The others are Mr Fahid Mohammed Ally Msalam and Mr Fazul Abdullah Mohammed.

http://www.terrorism.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=53859&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

[Petronas]

Kenya (Country threat level - 4): On 29 March 2006, Kenyan police officers were placed on high alert after two men were arrested with large amounts of bomb making materials during two separate raids on residences in eastern Nairobi. Reports indicate that the men were in possession of approximately 55 lb/25 kg of ammonium nitrate, 500 long range bomb detonators and 150 short range detonators. Additional explosive material was found also in the residences during the raid. So far, Kenyan police have not released any additional information as to the purpose or affiliation of the two men.

http://www.airsecurity.com/hotspots/HotSpots.asp

[Petronas]

Kenyan police 'hack Al Qaeda laptop'
January 31, 2007

Kenyan authorities say they have cracked the password on a laptop computer belonging to one of the most wanted Al Qaeda suspects in Africa. A report by the Kenyan newspaper, The Daily Nation, on its Web site Monday quoted anonymous "senior police sources" as saying that the computer "contained vital information on terrorism training and intelligence collection, including spying." The report gave no further details, but said the computer was seized from the wife of Faisal Abdullah Mohammed - indicted by federal prosecutors for his role in the Al Qaeda truck bombings of two US embassies in East Africa in August, 1998.

Faisal's wife, Halima Badroudine Faisal Husseine, was arrested earlier this month with her three children, crossing the Kenyan border from Somalia - where her husband is widely believed to have been hiding until the turn of the year, when the Islamic militias allegedly sheltering them were routed from Somalia by the Ethiopian military. The newspaper said police believed Faisal had given her the computer for safe-keeping or delivery to someone else. Despite calls from Muslim groups in Kenya for Badroudine's release, the government deported her back to Somalia over the weekend, along with 24 others who have been detained crossing the border in recent days.

Officials in Mogadishu told local media that the weekend deportations brought to 57 the number of suspected fighters and supporters of the Islamic militias sent to Somalia since the return of the internationally backed, but internally weak, Transitional Federal Government, which came to power on the coat-tails of the Ethiopian military, earlier this month. They include nationals of Yemen, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Sweden, Comoros, and Morocco, reports said.

http://www.metimes.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20070131-065913-9579r

[Petronas]

Britons arrested in Kenya 'members of Islamic militia'
Sat 3 Feb 2007

FOUR Britons believed to have fought alongside a Somali Islamic militia group are being held by Kenyan police. The men were detained on January 20 and Kenyan officials say they will be deported. The Foreign Office said the men were apparently arrested trying to leave neighbouring Somalia. Ethiopian forces invaded the mainly Muslim Somalia in December to stop an Islamic movement ousting the weak, internationally-recognised government.

Last month there were reports that Britons had been fighting alongside the Islamic forces, with some killed, injured or captured in the fighting. Somalia's deputy prime minister also claimed that some financial support for the Islamic militant movement in his country was coming from the UK.

A spokeswoman for the British Embassy said: "We had confirmation from the Kenyan authorities that they are holding four British nationals. We continue to press urgently for consular access so that we can confirm their nationality and offer every assistance."

The Britons were among a group of ten foreign nationals held, including two Americans, one of whom is wanted in the US for links to radical movements.

http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=181902007

[Ono]

Kenyan hotel bombing suspect sent to Guantanamo Bay

POSTED: 9:01 p.m. EDT, March 26, 2007


Story Highlights

• Man suspected in Kenya terror attacks sent to Guantanamo Bay
• Abdul Malik admits to deadly bombing at Mombasa, Kenya, hotel
• Malik could be associated with al Qaeda



WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. military transferred a man suspected of involvement with terrorist attacks in East Africa to the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the Pentagon said Monday.

The suspect, Abdul Malik, is believed to be affiliated with al Qaeda.
Malik admitted to U.S. authorities he was involved in the 2002 attack on the Paradise Hotel in Kenya, which killed more than a dozen people, according to Pentagon officials. He also admitted involvement in the attempted shoot-down of an Israeli airliner with 271 passengers aboard near Mombasa, Kenya, the same day, the officials said.

Malik was transferred to the Guantanamo facility this past weekend after being held by the U.S. military at an overseas military base for screening. Officials declined to identify the overseas base.

Pentagon officials would not say where or when Malik was captured and declined to give his nationality. According to Defense Department officials, Malik was captured by the Kenyans in East Africa. It is not clear if he was captured fleeing Somalia in the push to rid Islamic fighters from that country earlier this year.

Malik was questioned by U.S. law enforcement officials before being transferred to Guantanamo and will undergo a military hearing to determine whether he is to be classified an "enemy combatant," according to Pentagon officials.

Pentagon officials refer to Malik as "dangerous" but do not classify him as a "high-value detainee."


http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americ...rss_topstories (http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/03/26/gitmo.eastafrica/index.html?eref=rss_topstories)

[Petronas]

Kenyan Muslims deny Sharia claims
Tuesday, 27 November 2007, 16:47 GMT

Kenyan Muslim leaders have dismissed as propaganda allegations that an opposition party promised to introduce Sharia for Muslims if it won elections. The National Muslim Leaders Forum said its deal with the Orange Democratic Movement was to end the current discrimination against Muslims. Christian leaders have been calling for the pact to be made public to end angry speculation ahead of December's polls. Roughly one-third of Kenya's population of 34 million is Muslim.

Recent opinion polls show 45% of those interviewed support ODM's Raila Odinga compared to 43% who favour President Mwai Kibaki, who is running on a Party of National Unity ticket.

Muslim leaders decided to make the pact public after a document circulated on the internet claimed that Mr Odinga's ODM had pledged to introduce Sharia in parts of the country where Muslims are in the majority. "There was a fear that Muslims will force their faith on other people, Islam does not allow suppression of other religions and we will be the last to advocate for this," said Abdullahi Abdi of the National Muslim Leaders Forum. Instead the memorandum of understanding, signed in August, states that Mr Odinga has pledged to defend Muslims against harassment and victimisation by state security forces who claim to be fighting terrorism.

If the ODM leader wins, he promises to set up a commission to investigate renditions of Muslims to Somalia, Ethiopia and the US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay on the island of Cuba. The document also commits Mr Odinga to initiate policies to redress the present marginalisation of Muslims living in the Coast and North-East provinces.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7115387.stm

[Petronas]

Kenya deports British Muslim suspected of 'terrorism ties'
3 days ago

Kenyan authorities have deported a British Muslim detained on suspicion of "terrorism ties" in connection with a cache of illegal weapons seized in the country, a rights group said Wednesday. Graham Andrew Adams, 31, was deported overnight to Britain after being questioned by police over weapons recovered in the capital Nairobi and the port city of Mombasa last week, Muslim Human Rights Forum (MHRF) Chairman Ali-Amin Kimathi told AFP. "He was removed from the police station, taken straight to the airport and put on a Kenya Airways flight back to London," he said, adding that he had been deported "on the orders of the Kenya Anti-Terrorism Police Unit."

Kimathi met Adams, said to be from Manchester, in the capital's Kamukunji police station where he was being detained. "He told us that he had nothing to fear being deported back home ... the only problem was that he would miss the opportunity to settle in Kenya and that he did not like the stigma of being deported as a terrorism suspect," Kimathi said. While in custody, investigators questioned the Briton about ties with some of the six men of Somali origin arrested over the weapons seizure.

A police official told AFP that Adams, who also goes by the name Ahmed Khalid Ibrahim since converting to Islam 13 years ago, was "being investigated over suspected terrorism ties." The six men of Somali origin were freed on bail on Tuesday after Kenyan courts refused to take the case because police had not charged them within 48 hours of arrest as stipulated by law. Security forces recovered grenades and guns last week in Nairobi and Mombasa, in one of the largest security swoops in the nation ahead of December 27 elections.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hux30qUT4X9ywPgYVJM9twC1ZjxA