Three more women held in Mombasa terror probe

Three female former classmates of one of the women killed in the September 11 attack on Central Police Station in Mombasa have been detained for interrogation.

Lawyer Jared Magolo, representing the women, told a Mombasa court Wednesday that one of the women is an epileptic with a heart ailment as he opposed a state application for orders to detain them for a week, pending investigations.

The three were brought to court under heavy guard last evening. Police claim Nasteho Ali Thalil, Luul Ali Tahlil and Zam Zam Abdi Abdullahi have been in telephone communication with Ramla Abdulrahman Hussein, one of the women who died in the attack that has been described by the government as a terrorist attack.

Police reports allege the women, who were summoned by detectives on Monday and freed later, but were placed in police custody later on Tuesday, told interrogators that they were in contact with one of the slain women on an internet chat room.

It is not clear which of the slain woman police were referring to.

According to Magolo, Nasteho, Luul and Zam Zam sat for their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) at Qubaa Secondary School in Mombasa last year and that they are jobless.

Ramla and her sister Maimuna Abdulrahman Hussein alongside Tasnim Yakub Abdullahi Farah perished in a hail of gunfire after the alleged raid at the police station.

Police claim the three raided the station with knives and petrol and attacked police officers before they were shot dead. Their bodies are still being held at the Coast General Hospital mortuary awaiting a postmortem examination tomorrow.

The widow of radical islamist Sheikh Aboud Rogo, who was killed on August 27 2012, Haniya Said Saggar is also being held by police over alleged links to Tasnim. One of the sisters studied with Tasnim at Qubaa Secondary School while the other schooled at Abdalla Farsy Secondary School in Mombasa.

Police arrested the three suspects at Mombasa County Police headquarters where they had been summoned after they allegedly confirmed Ramla was their classmate until last year at Qubaa secondary school.

Wednesday Magolo told the court that it is not a crime for his clients to have communicated with the slain women.

“They were arrested because they had formed a WhatsApp platform of former classmates to communicate among themselves,” he said.

He insisted that the three are not a members of a terror group as was being claimed by the police.

State counsel Erick Masila told Mombasa Principal Magistrate Henrry Nyakweba that the three are terror suspects and sought that they remain in custody as police conclude investigations. So far seven suspects have been arrested in connection with the attack.