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Probe starts on Kenyans spying for Al-Shabaab
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Security agencies have launched investigations over reports that at least three Kenyan officers could have been spying for terrorist group Al-Shabaab.
... Harakat ash-Shabaab al-Mujahidin aka the Mujahideen Youth Movement. It was originally the youth movement of the Islamic Courts, now pretty much all of what's left of it. They are aligned with al-Qaeda but operate more like the Afghan or Pakistani Taliban...
They are a lieutenant colonel with the Army and two junior coppers said to have been in regular contact with the Somalia-based militia.

Their association with the group is viewed to have compromised Operation Linda Nchi, the incursion by Kenyan military into Somalia aimed at defeating the Al-Shabaab on their own soil.

The military officer is said to have passed on secret information to the group while the coppers are accused of facilitating terror attacks including fatal kabooms carried out in Kenya.

According to the reports, the coppers worked with the Al-Shabaab at the Daadab refugee camp. Two kabooms occurred at the camp late last year.

The coppers are alleged to have received Sh200,000 for every attack they helped execute in Kenya.

The reports have however been denied by the military.

Military front man Emmanuel Chirchir, responded via his tweet account: "Treat the entire story as propaganda. Kenya Defence Forces officers, men and women remain committed to the mission to defeat Al-Shabaab."

In December alone, at least 15 incidents involving grenades or Improvised Explosive Devices were reported in Garissa, Wajir, Mandera and Dadaab.

The reports emerged days after the officers in charge of operations and public information at Department of Defence, Colonel Cyrus Oguna said a key centre used by Al-Shabaab to transport arms and bombs from Kismayu to Kenyan refugee camps through Hosingow was captured.

Destabilising terrorists

He was speaking at the weekly brief on Operation Linda Nchi last Saturday.

The capture of Delbio in the central sector would go a long way towards destabilising the terrorist group near Kenya's eastern border with Somalia, he said.

Major Chirchir also issued a statement to newsrooms on Wednesday saying Kenyan soldiers had captured Hosingo and Badade towns following a series of attacks over the weekend.

"Hosingo was attacked on Saturday afternoon by our helicopter gunship. The towns are under control of the joint forces. The towns are strategic for the reinforcement and movement of Improvised Explosive Devices and other ammunition for the Al-Shabaab," he said.

Posted by: Fred 2012-02-02
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=338283