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| East/Subsaharan Africa |
| Al-Qaida suspect sighted in Somalia |
| 2003-05-15 |
| One of the FBIâs most wanted al-Qaida suspects has been sighted in the Somali capital of Mogadishu and could be operating inside Kenya, Kenyaâs security ministry said on Thursday. FAZUL ABDULLAH MOHAMMED, a Comoros islander, is accused of being the mastermind behind both the 1998 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Nairobi and last Novemberâs suicide bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel in the Kenyan resort of Mombasa. Car bombs are his specialty National Security Minister Chris Murungaru released his photograph on Wednesday night and said that security forces in the east African country had been put on high alert. âGiven that this fellow has been sighted in Mogadishu and the information gathered is that he has been coming in and going out (of Kenya), then we have to be on high alert,â ministry spokesman Douglas Kaunda said. âThe minister said that thereâs already heightened surveillance of major installations, particularly western interests.â Mohammed has been indicted for the 1998 embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, which killed 224 people. He is also believed to have been the lynchpin in the 2002 Mombasa attacks, in which 16 people died. Somalia has no effective central government and is divided among rival warlords, making it an ideal hideout for fugitives. Not much chance of finding him there, have to pick him up when he's on a road trip. Kaunda said Mohammed was thought to use 17 different names, and hold various passports. His favorite alias was Harun. According to his FBI wanted poster he likes to wear baseball caps and dress casually, and he is good with computers. A major player |
| Posted by:Steve |