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| East/Subsaharan Africa | |
| Kenya names Qaeda suspect in U.S. embassy attacks | |
| 2003-03-26 | |
| Kenya on Wednesday named the suspected al Qaeda member accused of involvement in the 1998 bombing of U.S. embassies in East Africa and the attack last November on an Israeli-owned hotel near Mombasa. National Security Minister Chris Murungaru told a news conference the suspect, in his early thirties, was "the al Qaeda terrorist operative Suleiman Abdalla alias Ngaka, alias Chuck Norris." Chuck, how could you! "He is one of the ones being sought by American and Kenyan security agencies. I'm sure his capture is very welcome," Murungaru said, adding that Abdulla had provided information that would help prevent future terror attacks in East Africa. "Ouch, put that down! I'll talk!" Abdalla has already been extradited to the United States, where four people were convicted in May 2001 of taking part in the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, killing 224 people including 12 Americans. Abdalla's nationality remains a mystery. He has on different occasions claimed to be Kenyan, Afghan and various other east African nationalities. He can't remember who the hell he is. Murungaru said Abdalla, arrested by Kenyan police last week in the Somali capital Mogadishu, had taken part in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings. He had given police useful leads on the November suicide bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel in the coastal resort of Mombasa, as well as information about possible future attacks in east Africa, Murungaru said. "What he has told us is that the terrorists have not gone to sleep and they're still active," Murungaru said. "The information that we have received from him will go a long way to forestalling any of the previously planned terrorist activities not just in Kenya but other east African nations." Sources in Somalia said Abdalla was arrested at a hospital in Mogadishu after being wounded in a gunbattle with militiamen. Murungaru rejected suggestions that the arrest justified recent U.S. and British government warnings to tourists not to travel to Kenya because of the possibility of attacks.
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| Posted by:Steve |
| #1 I'm sure Abdulkassim (or whoever's the |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-03-26 11:22:58 |