Free Republic

SNIPPET: "An al Qaeda leader wanted by the US for a string of deadly attacks has been named the new leader of terror group's network in East Africa. Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, one of several al Qaeda leaders charged with carrying out the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, was appointed the leader of al Qaeda in the Horn of Africa. Fazul was "inaugurated" during an open ceremony in the southern city of Kismayo, according to a translation received by The Long War Journal of an article posted Waaga Cusub, a website operated by the Hawiye clan,...

Terrorism: At a time when the public is losing heart on the war in Afghanistan, a decisive strike on Somalia's al-Qaida chief Monday reminds us that victory is possible and President Obama is an able leader on this front.Ten days ago, Obama signed an executive order authorizing U.S. special forces to hunt down and blow away Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, a ruthless Kenyan-born terrorist operating out of Somalia. In 1998, Nabhan had a role in the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, which left 212 dead, including 12 Americans. The attack was so vicious, it put Osama bin...

RADICAL Islamist al-Shabaab militants linked to al-Qa'ida and based in Somalia plotted to kill US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her trip to Africa last month, it was disclosed yesterday. A planned series of bomb attacks set to take place in Nairobi, the capital of neighbouring Kenya, while Mrs Clinton was there - one in the hotel where she was staying - was foiled at the last minute, media reports, citing senior security officials, said. "Al-Qa'ida wanted to strike at the heart of Nairobi (while Mrs Clinton was here)," the senior security official was quoted as saying, adding that...

NAIROBI (AFP) – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday gave a ringing endorsement to one feature of the Kenyan capital Nairobi -- its hairdressers. As she launched an 11-day tour of Africa, Clinton noted -- and not with pleasure -- that Americans have long paid close attention to how she wears her hair. "My hairdoes have been the subject of Ph.D. theses, so I want everybody to know that I got a good one in Nairobi," Clinton said in an aside to an economic forum involving some 40 African countries. Besides doing a commendable job on her hair,...

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton criticized Kenya on Wednesday for rampant graft and corruption as she made the case that business and trade across Africa cannot grow without good governance and solid democracy. Speaking to a conference in President Barack Obama’s ancestral homeland, Clinton said, "True economic progress in Africa will depend on responsible governments that reject corruption, enforce the rule of law and deliver results for their people." "This is not just about good governance — it’s also about good business," she told African leaders. Her audience included Kenya’s president and prime minister, who were rivals in...

Father refuses to give al Shabaab extremists information about house church pastor. Islamic extremists have beheaded two young boys in Somalia because their Christian father refused to divulge information about a church leader, and the killers are searching Kenya’s refugee camps to do the same to the boys’ father. Before taking his Somali family to a Kenyan refugee camp in April, 55-year-old Musa Mohammed Yusuf himself was the leader of an underground church in Yonday village, 30 kilometers (19 miles) from Kismayo in Somalia. He had received instruction in the Christian faith from Salat Mberwa. Militants from the Islamic extremist...

AMERICAN president Barack Obama's half brother was REFUSED a visa to enter the UK after being accused of an attempted sex attack on a young girl in Berkshire. The News of the World can reveal that Kenya-based Samson Obama tried to get into Britain on his way to Washington for his family's big day, the historic inauguration in January. But eagle-eyed immigration officials at East Midlands Airport, using the latest biometric tests, discovered he was linked to an incident here last November. The hi-tech database revealed that Samson -who manages a mobile phone shop just outside Nairobi-was the same man...

A man carries a T-shirt printed with a picture of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama at a workshop in downtown Nairobi October 7, 2008. And a man prints T-shirts of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama at a workshop in downtown Nairobi October 7, 2008. A man stands next a poster of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama at a workshop in downtown Nairobi October 7, 2008. And people walk past a minibus with a poster of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama in downtown Nairobi October 7, 2008. People walk past a poster showing the sale of U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Barack...

NAIROBI, Kenya – The government of Kenya is holding WND senior staff reporter Jerome Corsi in custody at immigration headquarters after police picked him up at his hotel just prior to a scheduled news conference in which he planned to announce the findings of his investigation into Barack Obama's connections in the country. Corsi, the author of the No. 1 best-selling book "The Obama Nation," was picked up by authorities at his hotel at 9:45 a.m. and is being detained at Nyayo House, the provincial headquarters for Nairobi. "Just as we were about to start the 10 a.m. press conference...

Hunt intensifies for al-Qa'ida suspect By Andrew Buncombe in Washington 16 May 2003 The international hunt is intensifying for an alleged senior al-Qa'ida operative charged with playing a central role in the bombing of two US embassies in East Africa and the attack on an Israeli-owned hotel in Mombassa after he was reportedly sighted in neighbouring Somalia. His sighting - and the fear that he may be planning further attacks - appears to have been central to the security alerts which led British Airways to suspend its flights to Kenya. Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, a Comoros islander also known as Harun,...

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan elders may impose a fine on U.S. presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, payable in livestock, after a photo of her rival Barack Obama in robes dragged their people into the race for the White House. The picture, which appeared on a U.S. Web site, showed the Illinois senator in a white headdress and traditional Somali attire during a 2006 visit to Wajir in Kenya's remote northeast. Obama has battled a whispering campaign by fringe elements who wrongly say he is Muslim and his aides accused Clinton's campaign of "the most shameful, offensive fear-mongering" after the photograph was...

Kenya's political rivals agreed Thursday to write a new constitution within a year as part of a deal to end postelection violence ... In Washington, President Bush said he will dispatch Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Kenya... Former U.N. chief Kofi Annan, who is mediating in the Kenya crisis, has hammered out a deal ... "The two parties agreed to write a new constitution," ... Opposition leader Raila Odinga ...

Somali pirates left two boats they had hijacked in the waters off the Horn of Africa, and the newly liberated vessels — and their crew of 24 — were under U.S. Navy escort on Sunday. A U.S. Navy ship and helicopter were guiding the Tanzanian-flagged boats Mavuno 1 and 2 further out to sea, where naval personnel will later board the vessels and treat crew members, said Cmdr. Lydia Robertson of the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain. The Navy is in radio contact with pirates aboard three other ships in the region, encouraging them also to leave those ships and...

British Intelligence: Al-Qaida Expanding -Full Story- British intelligence officials said they believe that al-Qaida has a secure base in Pakistan's Waziristan region and is planning terrorist operations.The group is reaching out to Muslims in North Africa, The Telegraph reported. Last year, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, an Algerian terrorist group, merged itself into al-Qaida, a move announced by Osama bin Laden's chief lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahiri, in a tape promising action against the "apostates" in the Algerian government and "the treacherous sons of France."Al-Qaida is also believed to be planning expansion into Lebanon and Syria, the newspaper report...

An explosion shook downtown Nairobi on Monday morning, killing one person and injuring at least 31 others, officials said. The cause of the blast was not clear, but police Commissioner Mohamed Hussein Ali said "it was something that somebody was carrying." ... He urged the public to be "extremely careful" about speculating on the nature of explosion.

Excerpt - YAOUNDE, May 6 (Reuters) - A Kenya Airways plane reported missing on Saturday with 114 people aboard, was found on Sunday in southern Cameroon, the central African country's state radio said. The radio interrupted its programming to report the find, but made no mention of casualties or the state of the aircraft. The plane was found near the village of Awanda, near the town of Mvengue, southwest of the capital Yaounde, the radio said. ~ snip ~

Excerpt - Kenya Airways said Saturday it has lost contact with a 737-800 aircraft that took off from Cameroon. "The last message from the aircraft was received by the control tower in Douala immediately after take-off," Kenya Airways said on its Web site. The flight departed Douala at 12:05 a.m. and was to arrive in Nairobi at 6:15 a.m. ~ snip ~

Excerpt - NAIROBI, Kenya - Gunmen carjacked a U.S. Embassy vehicle on the outskirts of the Kenyan capital Saturday and killed two women in the car, police said. "The thugs ordered the two women out but they hesitated," said Isaiah Osugo, a criminal investigations officer in Nairobi. "Then they were shot." Francis Munyambu, Nairobi's deputy provisional police officer, said the carjackers escaped with the embassy vehicle and were armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles. The men had carjacked another vehicle earlier in the day, he said. ~ snip ~

A UNITED State Federal judge ordered the detention on Monday of an Ethiopian-born U.S. citizen who was arrested at Detroit's airport last week for carrying nearly $79,000 in cash and articles on suitcase bombs and the Sept. 11 attacks. Sisayehiticha Dinssa, 34, was arrested on Nov. 14 on arrival in Detroit after a dog smelled narcotics on his cash, according to federal prosecutors who had appealed a decision for him to be released on bond as a threat and a flight risk. Dinssa is charged with failing to declare he was bringing more than $10,000 into the United States, a...

Warden Message: Extremist Threats from Somalia Consular Affairs Bulletins Report Sub-Saharan Africa - Kenya October 31 2006 The U.S. Embassy Nairobi issued the following Warden Message on October 31, 2006: The US Embassy in Nairobi wishes to alert American citizens living and traveling in Kenya to reports of terrorist threats emanating from extremist elements within Somalia which target Kenya, Ethiopia, and other surrounding countries. These threats specifically mention the execution of suicide explosions in prominent landmarks within Kenya and Ethiopia. American citizens are advised to remain vigilant and to use extreme caution when frequenting prominent public places. American citizens...

Hundreds of Muslims swarmed Nairobi streets after their Friday special prayers to press for the disbandment of the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit. The demo was largely peaceful, except for the burst of a teargas canister police lobbed at the protesters, who expressed bitterness with what they said was harassment of Muslims. They were specifically irked by the arrest of businessman, Mr Ali Jama Ali, in connection with last week's grenade attack on eight police officers at a roadblock in Westlands. Members of the unit are holding Ali for interrogations. He was arrested on Tuesday after he went to report to police...

Lopez: In sum, how many times did Bill Clinton lose bin Laden?Miniter: Here's a rundown. The Clinton administration:1. Did not follow-up on the attempted bombing of Aden marines in Yemen.2. Shut the CIA out of the 1993 WTC bombing investigation, hamstringing their effort to capture bin Laden.3. Had Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, a key bin Laden lieutenant, slip through their fingers in Qatar.4. Did not militarily react to the al Qaeda bombing in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.5. Did not accept the Sudanese offer to turn bin Laden.6. Did not follow-up on another offer from Sudan through a private back channel.7. Objected to...

Report of the Accountability Review Boards Bombings of the US Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on August 7, 1998 NAIROBI: DISCUSSION AND FINDINGS [* Note: Passages here and elsewhere in this document marked with an asterisk (*) indicate more details can be found in the classified version of the report.] Discussion On August 7, 1998, at approximately 10:30 a.m. local time, terrorists driving in a truck detonated a large bomb in the rear parking area, near the ramp to the basement garage, of the American Embassy in Nairobi. A total of 213 people were killed, of...

We are going with a group of ministers who work here in the U.S. to raise funds to build churches and equip ministers in Nairobi, Kenya. Then they go over there for several weeks on a preaching tour. My husband and I would be brining our two sons ages 5 and 7. We would be staying with families of the churches and not in hotels. We would not be going there as "tourists" but to work. Although I am sure we will do a little site seeing as well. I have never traveled anywhere except for a few places in...

ISLAMABAD, April 13 (Reuters) - An Egyptian al Qaeda member wanted for his role in the 1998 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Kenya was killed by Pakistani forces close to the Afghan border, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said on Thursday. The minister named the man as Abdul Rehman, one of the aliases used by Muhsin Musa Matwalli Atwah, for whom the United States has offered a $5 million reward. "He was involved in the Kenya bombing," Ahmed said. Military sources said the al Qaeda guerrilla was killed along with six other Islamist militants in a missile attack...

Nairobi - Xhu is using his arms more than his rudimentary English to haggle with two determined African women who want a discount on the hair extensions he sells in his busy but grimy shop in a suburb of Nairobi. After his customers leave with their purchases, Xhu confides that his plastic extensions used by African women for braiding their hair are particularly popular, as is his Malaika (Kiswahili for angel) range of cosmetics for African women. Xhu's African customers see nothing wrong in buying African products made in China. 'I prefer the Chinese to the Indian shops here because...

Kenyan security forces fired tear gas at angry stone-throwing Muslim demonstrators attempting to march on the Danish embassy in Nairobi to protest cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, witnesses said on Friday. Baton-wielding riot police launched tear-gas canisters to disperse about 300 protesters on a main thoroughfare in the capital after the crowd tried to break through a cordon by hurling rocks and other projectiles, they said. At least one person was injured in the melee, witnesses said. "I just saw something hit me and I fell down," said demonstrator Shaban Kariuki (18), who was bleeding from the hip. An Agence...

The United States and 11 African countries Monday opened in Nairobi a regional center to coordinate response to terrorist attacks and natural disasters. The new center is the headquarters for "Golden Spear," a United States-led operation to help east African countries deal more effectively with natural disasters and terrorist attacks. Operation "Golden Spear" coordinates disaster relief among the 11 participating African nations and the United States Central Command, which has a large presence in Djibouti. Among the government officials attending the opening ceremony was Kenyan Vice President Moody Awori, who read a speech by President Mwai Kibaki. He said programs...

Even as debate rages on over the recent nullification of national examination results for hundreds of secondary school candidates, it was not surprising that the matter assumed political dimensions. Leaders from the most affected area, the three Kisii districts, led by Energy minister Simeon Nyachae called on Education minister George Saitoti to register their concerns. Some were even suggesting that regions which had a high number of cheating cases were being victimised. Examination cheating is a well-established practice that involves not just students, but also teachers, administrators and other people in the community. Many teachers and former students concede that...

Plans by the Catholic Church to turn the late Cardinal Maurice Otunga into the first Kenyan saint may hit a snag. This was after the Bukusu, community, from which the late prelate hailed, yesterday expressed stiff opposition to the exhumation of Otunga’s remains for reburial, while some legal experts warned of a possible backlash over the move. The Bukusu, led by members of Dini ya Musambwa sect, vowed to use all possible means to block the exhumation, arguing that the move was likely to bring a curse on the community. "We will not allow this exercise to take place. Otunga...

<p>WASHINGTON (CNN) -- There is a family connection between a key suspect in the attack on the USS Cole and the 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, CNN has learned.</p> <p>U.S. and allied officials have told CNN the suicide bomber who caused extensive damage and casualties at the embassy was a cousin of a man considered a key suspect in the USS Cole investigation. Yemeni officials say the name of the Cole suspect is Mohammed Omar Al-Harazi -- though U.S. intelligence officials say he is known by at least two other names: Abdul Rahman Hussein Al-Nashari or Al-Nassir.</p>

Tuesday, February 17, 2004 Kerry lover holed up in city house By Nixon Ng'ang'a The woman who could end Senator John Kerry's chances of becoming president of the United States remained holed up in a Lavington house in Nairobi amid claims that she had confessed her affair to a US TV station. The gate to the house where twenty four-year old Alexandra Polier, who allegedly had a two-year affair with the Senator favoured to clinch the Democratic Party nomination stays, was closed yesterday. Local and international journalists camped at the gate for hours but were denied access to house no...

Kenyans on trial for terror attacks Murder charges against the three were dropped in November The trial of three Kenyans charged with plotting to bomb the US embassy in Nairobi has opened. They are accused of "conspiracy to commit a felony" over the blast which killed 213 in 1998 and of plotting to blow up the new embassy last year. They are also charged with involvement in last year's suicide bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel near the resort of Mombasa, which killed at least 12. The al-Qaeda network has said it carried out the 1998 embassy bombing. Mohammed Kubwa...

Kenyan security forces were on high alert in the wake of warnings that suicide bombers might strike two top hotels in the capital, Nairobi. "We are taking no chances. The tightened security will ensure that whoever is intending to carry out such attacks in Kenya will not do it so easily," police spokesman Charles Kosgey told AFP on Wednesday. "We have tightened security everywhere to ensure the attacks do not occur, there is no cause for alarm," Kosgey added. On Tuesday, the United States and the United Nations' large Nairobi complex issued alerts that two diplomatic missions had received warnings...

NAIROBI, Kenya - The U.S. Embassy warned American citizens Tuesday of a potential terrorist attack on two hotels in downtown Nairobi and two bank buildings were evacuated due to a bomb threat. "The U.S. government recently received an anonymous warning detailing terrorist threats aimed at American and Western interests in downtown Nairobi ... the timing of the threat is within the next several days," the U.S. Embassy said in a statement. Although the "information has not been corroborated," it was released in the interest of public safety," the statement said. United Nations security officials also warned employees from visiting the...

9/11 Inquiry Reveals WTC Threat in 1998 Wed Sep 18, 6:49 PM ET By Tabassum Zakaria WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. congressional hearing was told on Wednesday that three years before the Sept. 11 attacks intelligence agencies had information about a group that planned to fly an explosive-laden plane from a foreign country into the World Trade Center. The information obtained in August 1998 about the group of "unidentified Arabs" was passed to the FBI and the Federal Aviation Administration, but "the FAA found the plot highly unlikely given the state of that foreign country's aviation program," said Eleanor Hill,...

NAIROBI: (AP) Al-Qaida operatives planned to destroy the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi in June with a truck bomb and a hijacked plane loaded with explosives, a plot described in a Kenya police report seen by The Associated Press on Friday. The report, based on an interrogation of a terror suspect, could explain why the U.S. Embassy was closed June 20-24 and why Kenyan officials banned flights from June 20-July 8 to and from Somalia, a lawless neighbor and suspected haven for terrorists. Those actions suggest some knowledge of the plot by U.S. and Kenyan authorities, on alert to terror threats...

Nairobi, Kenya (CNSNews.com) - Sudan is calling for compensation from Washington for an August 1998 air strike on what the U.S. said at the time was a factory manufacturing chemical weapons and financed in part by al Qaeda. It has used the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the incident to mount a campaign urging the U.S. to refrain from actions which violate the sovereignty of other states, and also to call on African states which have not done so to sign and ratify the international Chemical Weapons Convention, banning the use and manufacture of chemical weapons. Khartoum maintains...

Al Qaeda is again setting its sights on Kenya. The United States has just finished building a spanking new embassy complex in Nairobi with the last word in counter-terror devices, a model for every American legation in the world. It replaces the building al Qaeda blasted in 1998 in twin attacks that hit the US embassy in Dar es-Salaam on the same day. DEBKAfile’s counter-terror and intelligence sources warn that the Islamist terrorists are poised to strike again in Kenya only eight months after bombing the Israeli-owned Paradise hotel in Mombasa and botching a shoulder-fired Strela rocket attack on an...

NAIROBI: The British High Commission (embassy) in Kenya has decided to close until further notice because of a "specific threat" it has received, a spokesman said Wednesday. "We have received a specific threat against the high commission. In light of that, we've decided to close until further notice," Mark Norton said, adding the mission would be closed on Thursday. The decision was made at closing time on Wednesday, he added. "We're investigating the threat as we speak," Norton told AFP, though he added: "It's unlikely we will reverse the decision to stay closed tomorrow." A Foreign Office spokesman in London...

A Kenya Airways flight attendant is alleged to have been carrying the biggest consignment of heroin ever found at Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta Airport when she was arrested Monday. A report in the East African Standard said the woman, who has not been named, had 27.8 kilograms of the drug in her possession when she was stopped by customs officials. The attendant, who traveled on a Kenya Airways flight from Mumbai, India to Nairobi, is understood to have been on leave. According to the newspaper, a police source said the woman was meeting a male contact at the airport but was...