BREAKING NEWS
A look at some of the East Africans suspected of joining al-Qaida's ranks
By ANDREW ENGLAND
The Associated Press
6/13/04 1:02 PM
MOMBASA, Kenya (AP) -- One chewed a semi-narcotic leaf known as khat, and occasionally smoked marijuana. The other, a keen swimmer and soccer player, slotted into midfield for a local team named Black Panthers.
Both teenage dropouts from large Kenyan families, they became friends who allegedly grew into holy warriors after training together in Afghanistan, returning home both deeply religious and dangerous.
The men -- Fahid Mohammed Ally Msalam and Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan -- are among suspected homegrown Islamic terrorists recruited in East Africa, making the FBI's list of 13 most wanted terrorists for alleged involvement in the 1998 bombings at the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
Since al-Qaida put down roots in Kenya a decade ago, Osama bin Laden's terror group has recruited young Kenyans and Tanzanians to help with logistics while the foreigners laid low.
Recruits tend to have similar backgrounds: They had something missing in their lives and the terror cell helped fill the void, a Western intelligence official said.
Both Msalam, 28, and Swedan, in his 30s, were born into large families -- Msalam as one of five children and Swedan as one of nine. Swedan's father, a mason, died in 1985. Msalam's businessman father died in the mid-1990s.
Swedan dropped out of school after finishing his primary education and was known for using khat and pot. Msalam was the athlete, but, like Swedan, he never finished his education, stopping after two years of high school.
The pair grew up in Majengo, a neighborhood of small houses and shops jammed along muddy, potholed streets. They became friends after growing more devout in the mid-1990s. It was around then that both allegedly trained together in Afghanistan, according to FBI reports.
Msalam's father, Mohammed Ally, was a well-off businessman of Yemeni descent. After Msalam dropped out of school, his father thought it best to send him to Yemen to "become a real man," Ali Mbarak, Msalam's uncle, told The Associated Press. His father died around 1994, shortly before Msalam returned to Kenya, Mbarak said.
In Yemen -- bin Laden's ancestral home -- Msalam was recruited into the army. Then the family heard Msalam "went to Pakistan for training," Mbarak said.
When he returned to Kenya, the changes were stark.
"We found him to be very religious. We found him to be a real man ... somebody who was willing to face life head on," Mbarak said. "He told his mother he did not want her to work in (her clothes) shop anymore; he was willing to look after them."
Msalam had learned to speak and read Arabic, discouraged his mother from driving and watching television because it wasn't religious and stopped his sister from going to a secular school.
"He talked that he wanted an Islamic way of life, like bin Laden, he wanted people to be strict," Mbarak said.
The uncle said Msalam also became secretive, "elusive" and spent time with Swedan.
Days before the embassy attacks, Msalam told his family he was leaving for Yemen. They haven't seen him since.
Swedan gave his relatives a similar story.
In 2001, as U.S. warplanes bombarded the Taliban in Afghanistan, Msalam's mother received a call from a man she didn't know who said Msalam had been killed in Afghanistan, Mbarak said.
http://www.nj.com/breakingnews/index.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?a0486_BC_Terror-HomegrownRecru&&news&tradecentercrash
Potatoes mean hand grenades in al-Qaida parlance
The Associated Press
6/13/04 1:02 PM
Code words used by al-Qaida's East Africa cell in plotting attacks, according to FBI and Kenyan police statements:
1998 BOMBINGS OF U.S. EMBASSIES IN KENYA AND TANZANIA:
--Tools: weapons.
--Working: jihad.
--Potatoes: hand grenades.
--Soap: TNT.
--Papers: fake documents.
--Goods: Fake documents from particular country, as in: "How are the `goods from Yemen."'
2002 BOMBING AT ISRAELI-OWNED HOTEL, ATTEMPT TO SHOOT DOWN ISRAELI JETLINER IN KENYA:
--Rain: "All is well."
--Dry: "Police operations or security is tight."
--Njuluku: money.
--Wedding: operations or attacks on targets.
--Telephone number code: 19, 28, 37, 46, 55, 64, 73, 82, 91, 00.