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| Africa: Horn |
| Al-Qaeda running terror ops out of Somalia |
| 2005-05-10 |
| Security agents have linked last week's Somali bombing to two terror gangs closely associated with the al-Qaeda network and the gangs' operation bases are believed to be in Kenya and Somalia, local newspaper The People Daily reported Monday. The report said that America's Federal Bureau of Investigations(FBI), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Kenya's National Security Intelligence Service (NSIS) are currently following leads linking the two terror groups to the blast at a stadium in Mogadishu that claimed eight lives. According to informed sources, the terror units -- al-Ittihad al-Islam and al-Takfir W'al Hijra -- are responsible for the suicide bombing attempt on Somali Prime Minister Mohamed Ali Gedi. Detectives are piecing together information relating to the two terror gangs whose activities are linked to one of the world's most wanted terrorists Musab al Zarqawi. Zarqawi, a close ally of Saudi Arabia fugitive and al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, is said to be in the process of establishing new terror cells in Somalia and Kenya. The revelations come only a day after the Somali government played down the explosion, which killed eight people and injured 28 others at the Mogadishu stadium. Gedi said the blast which cut short a successful political rally convened for him at the stadium did not target him. "The blast was purely accidental and not directed at me. I am very sorry for what happened and pray for those injured and the families of those killed," Gedi said. The fresh details also came in the wake of a week-long visit by a group of experts from the United Nations to review Kenya's ability to fight terrorism. Kenya is the second country to undergo such an on-site review by the UN Counter Terrorism Committee's Executive Directorate. Thegroup visited Morocco in mid-March. It is learnt that the agents of al-Ittihad al-Islam and al-Takfir W'al Hijra have established sanctuaries at the Kenyan coastal strip and North Eastern province. Sources said pockets of the terror units' first established bases in Lamu and Ras Kiamboni -- along Kenya-Somalia border in 1996. However, the terror groups became inactive immediately afterthe 1998 bombing in Kenya and Tanzania that claimed over 200 lives. In Somalia, the terror groups have bases in Puntland, Kismayu, Mogadishu, Bossassu while in Ethiopia they operate from Ogadiena and Gedo. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |