Posted on 03/19/2003 1:34:57 PM PST by Shermy
NAIROBI, Kenya - Kenyan police are holding a suspected member of the al-Qaida terrorist network who was captured with the help of unidentified Somalis, the minister of national security said Wednesday.
"This particular arrest was a joint effort by our security agents and some peace-loving Somali leaders who did not want to see terrorists operate in their country," Chris Murungaru said in a statement.
Although the statement did not say so, it is believed the unidentified man was captured in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, which has not had an effective government for more than a decade. The United States has cited Somalia, a Muslim nation in the Horn of Africa, as a possible haven for terrorists.
Murungaru said the suspect was an "al-Qaida operative" wanted for questioning in connection with "multiple terrorist attacks in East Africa."
No details about the suspect were released because it would not be "prudent to disclose much about the case at this time," he said.
Sources affiliated with Kaysaney Hospital in north Mogadishu said gunmen loyal to faction leader Mohamed Dhereh entered the hospital on Tuesday and nabbed a man believed to be a Yemeni national, then handed him over to four or five white men — believed to be either Americans or Israelis.
The sources said the man is the same person who was injured Monday when unidentified gunmen tried to abduct him and police intervened.
Witnesses identified the man as Abikar Mohamed Ali, a trader who dealt in electrical goods in the Somali capital.
A Somali business colleague, who asked not to be named, said the man was also known as Issa, and carried both South African and Yemeni passports. The colleague said the man had been in Mogadishu for about a year after entering the country by land from Kenya. He married a Somali woman a month ago, and two weeks later took her to Nairobi where she remained, the colleague said.
Kenya, which shares a long and porous border with Somalia, has been the victim of two terrorist attacks in the last five years.
On Nov. 28, a vehicle packed with explosives crashed into the Paradise Hotel on Kenya's Indian Ocean coast, killing 11 Kenyans and three Israeli tourists. The hotel, 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of the port of Mombasa, was frequented by Israeli tourists.
Minutes before the bombing, unidentified assailants fired two missiles at an Arkia Airlines Boeing 757, narrowly missing the charter aircraft as it took off from Mombasa airport with Israeli tourists returning to Tel Aviv.
Israeli security officials have been working closely with Kenyan police investigating the attacks.
On Aug. 7, 1998, another car bomb exploded at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, killing 219 people, 12 of them Americans, and injuring 5,000.
The attack and another nearly simultaneous one at the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam in neighboring Tanzania in which 12 people died and 80 were injured were blamed on Osama bin laden (news - web sites)'s al-Qaida network. Four men were convicted by a U.S. federal court for their role in the two bombings and sentenced to life in prison in the United States.
U.S. officials have worked closely with Kenyan police investigating these attacks.
The November attacks were first claimed by the previously unknown Army of Palestine, but al-Qaida later claimed responsibility.
Ahmed Zaoui, held in New Zealand, also has a South African passport. Perhaps South Africa is replacing Belgium as the top choice for terrorist passports.
We now have a name besides "Issa."
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