Tuesday, October 16, 2012
NAIROBI (Xinhua) -- Terrorism suspect Musharaf Abdallah on Monday pleaded guilty to ten counts of charges among them being a member of Al-Shabaab blamed for bomb and grenade attacks in the East African nation.
However, Nairobi Chief Magistrate Kiarie Waweru said he will pass sentence on Tuesday on the 21-year-old Abdallah, who is a Luyia from Western Kenya.
He also pleaded guilty to being in possession of explosive materials and several rounds of ammunition among other counts.
"I plead guilty to all the charges and also plead with court to send me to jail," Abdallah who was arrested on Sept. 29 in the coastal town of Malindi told the magistrate.
The move comes barely a month after Nairobi Chief Magistrate Lucy Nyambura sentenced Abdimajid Yasin Mohamed alias Hussein to serve 59 years after pleading guilty to being a member of the militant group.
Mohammed was convicted three days after the magistrate ordered that he undergo psychiatric examination but doctors found him fit to stand trial and later reiterated his plea of being guilty on Thursday after which he was jailed.
He was arrested with deadly weapons reportedly to be used for terror attacks targeting Parliament and a senior politician in the East African nation.
On Sept. 14, the police recovered four suicide bomb vests primed with up to 40 kgs of explosives ready for detonation; two improvised explosive devices; 12 hand grenades; four AK-47 rifles; 16 magazines and 480 rounds of 7.62mm special ammunition.
On Monday, the police sources said Abdallah is among the eight terror suspects the police have been pursuing for planning to attack churches in the East African nation since last month.
On Sept. 14, Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe released surveillance photographs of the four out eight suspects whose identities were not been established whom the police believe are accomplices or have crucial information on activities of suspected Al-Shabaab militants.
Kiraithe said the anti-terror police believe the eight terror suspects are collaborators in the intended commission of crimes using the ammunition and deadly cache of weapons which were recovered from a residential estate in Nairobi mainly inhabited by Kenyans of Somali origin.
"Some of the explosives have remote detonation devices and therefore we believe that where they went, they would be in multiples so that in the event the suicide bomber developed cold feet the other one will detonate him," Kiraithe said.
He said the eight suspects could be involved in the process in the terror activities as either suicide bombers or as masterminds of the various crimes in the East African nation.
The police have stepped up security around vital installations likely to be targets of attacks by Al-Shabaab who have vowed to bring down Kenya’s skyscrapers because of cross border incursion in the Horn of Africa nation.
There has been heightened security around the country with security agencies at an unprecedented state of alert amid the latest reports that Al-Shabaab have planned attacks against Kenya in protest over cross border incursion in southern Somalia.
Kenyan officials blame the Al-Shabaab insurgents or their sympathizers for the bombings and shootings, although armed bandits also operate in the border areas.
The suicide bombs had been mounted don vests attached with batteries and mobile phones that the terrorists would have launched a series of explosions.
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EARLIER REPORT:
Unknown gunmen kill refugee
leader at the Dadaab complex
GARISSA (Xinhua) -- Unknown gunmen killed a renowned refugee security committee leader at the Dadaab complex in northern Kenya, officials said on Monday.
Garissa County Commissioner Mohamed Maalim who confirmed the 14: 00 hours incident however said that the man was neither a government nor governmental designated security officer but was one of the refugee local community peace representative.
The 40 year-old Mahat Muhumed Said was shot in day light by unknown assailants who escaped on foot at Ifo refugee camp in the sprawling Dadaab refugee complex.
An eye witness, Mohamed Hussein, told Xinhua that the lone gun man who was armed with a pistol shot the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Ifo refugee camp security chair.
"We had gun shots and people run for their lives fearing that there might be an explosion that will follow the gun shots.
"Business came to a stand still, shops were closed and even hotels were hurriedly shut as everybody scampered for safety," Hussein said.
"We rushed to the scene and found the man bleeding profusely. He was later rushed to Ifo where he was later pronounced dead," Hussein said.
There has been a string of attacks in Dadaab refugee camp by Al- Shabaab militants and their sympathizers since Kenya sent troops into Somalia in October last year to subdue the insurgents who were blamed for a series of murders and kidnappings on the Kenya soil with Daadab district which hosts the refugee camps being one of the worst hit by the attacks.
More than 20 security officers have been killed in 11 attacks that have occurred in the northeastern region, while more than 20 people have also lost their lives in a series of landmine or grenade attacks in the region.
In the latest attacks on Monday, the suspect is believed to be a sympathizer of the Al-Shabaab group who were recently flushed out of the port city Kismayo which served as the insurgents’ lifeline.
Meanwhile, two vehicles heading to Madenera were ambushed by armed gunmen between Lafey and Arabia.
The heavily armed gunmen sprayed bullets on the first moving vehicles that were headed for a funeral of a local chief.
One of the drivers managed to escape but the other was waylaid where they abandoned the four people in the Toyota car who took control of the car as they escaped with it towards Somalia.
Increased attacks early this year in Dadaab refugee camp forced some aid agencies to scale down their operations following the fatal shootings of two leaders of the community peace and security teams (CPST) in less than a week.
Unknown gunmen killed Lutheran World Federation (LWF)’s peace committee chairperson in January.
The chairperson had organized the refugees themselves to keep the camps safe for the more than 463,000 men, women and children mainly from Somalia.
Four unknown gunmen killed another Somali refugee leader in Dadaab camp again in January in the attacks targeting the refugee leaders at the camp.
In another incident, Ahmed Mahmoud Mohamed, CPST chairperson for the Hagadera refugee camp, was shot dead on Dec. 29, 2011 by two unknown individuals near his house as he returned home in the evening.
The suspects are said to have disappeared in a waiting vehicle.
The killers who are believed to the sympathizers’ of the Somali Islamist group Al-Shabaab escaped after shooting the deceased without harming any other person or even stealing anything from the business premise.