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Chasing Shadows

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Today's Standard splashes on mounting suspicion that someone in Kenya's anti-terror police unit tipped off Fazul Abdulla Mohammed, a key terror suspect, just as officers were about to swoop. They arrested a family thought to be hosting Fazul in Malindi even as his dinner was cooling on the table. But there was no sign of a man wanted for his role in the 1998 US embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya. This wasn't the first time Fazul had slipped the net. But what was remarkable was the timing, coming just days before the 10th anniversary of the bombings and on the weekend the BBC World Service was airing its commemorative programme. Police even managed to snatch his laptop containing a pretty revealing diary,(thanks to Shashank for this).
On deciding to undergo jihadi training in Pakistan: "I said to my mother: 'I have heard that some Comoro young men have graduated from military colleges in Pakistan.' 'Who told you this?' asked my mother....'All I want you to do is enroll in the university and to focus on any specialization that you deem appropriate. After you finish your studies, if you get an opportunity for military studies, there is no objection."... To be utterly frank, I wished to be a physician. However, I knew that Allah does what he wishes.
So it's just a pity that my friends with the small earpieces tell me that Fazul was holed up in southern Somalia, protected by the Shabaab, during the weekend in question and was nowhere near the beach resort town of Malindi. The security services case is undermined further by the fact that his three hosts were released on police bond yesterday - unlikely if they were really thought to have been abetting an al Qaeda operative.

5 Comments

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Victor Ngeny | August 12, 2008 9:28 AM | Reply

Rob, me thinks these guys wanted a show of some sort that they are actually doing something, i.e. looking for Fazul. If the Anti-Terrorism police could not convince the courts to deny the suspects bail, it seems the case they have is flimsy to say the least.

Looks like someone is on a wild goose chase.

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Anonymous | August 12, 2008 9:43 AM | Reply

Exactly Victor. They've got to be seen to be doing something. So even though they say they missed him, it still makes it look as if their intelligence is closing in

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Nairobi Notes | August 12, 2008 11:20 AM | Reply

Oh, this has Kenyan press scandal-making written all over it. Glad you highlighted this.

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shashank | August 12, 2008 1:35 PM | Reply

Agreed, Rob. Don't stories about Kenya's near-capture of Rwandan genocide fugitive -- and sometime Nairobi resident -- Felicien Kabuga seem to pop up on just about the same schedule? And of course the papers gobble this quasi-intrigue right up. I just wonder who these stories are aimed at. Surely the guys in the big fortress embassies aren't so gullible.

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Anonymous | August 12, 2008 2:06 PM | Reply

Shashank, you were right to be sceptical on your blog. But you have more faith in the guys in the big fortress embassies than I do. If I were you I wouldn't be holidaying in Malindi any time soon... just in case there's an airstrike

What do you think?