By Cyrus Ombati
The hunt is on for eight dangerous men who were prepared to die in major terror attacks on churches and other targets.
Police say Al Shabaab terrorists appear to have been planning their deadliest attacks yet on Kenyan soil after months of smaller grenade attacks.
This follows the discovery of a deadly cache of explosive-laden vests and weapons in a one-bedroom apartment in the city’s Eastleigh estate.
Two men were arrested in the Thursday night raid with four suicide vests and two improvised devices, each with at least 30kg of explosives. They were identified as Kenyan Abdulmajid Yassin Mohammed, 26, and Somali national Suleiman Abdi Aden, 24. Police also recovered 12 hand grenades, four AK 47 rifles, and 480 bullets. Police say the cache was ferried to the house on Monday or Tuesday this week in readiness for use.
They say eight suspects, either Somali nationals or Kenyans of Somali decent, are believed to be on the run. Photographs of some of the men, all aged below 30, were released to the media late last night.
Anti-terror police unit detectives spent much of the day on Friday interrogating the two suspects in custody. The men, who had been living in the Eastleigh house for the last two months, have allegedly confessed to plotting terror attacks. Police believe the attacks were imminent and would have been executed “as early as on Saturday”.
Police said the men confessed to working with eight others to plan attacks on social places and churches in the city. Those who escaped the police dragnet are believed to include the mastermind and/or bomb maker, the suicide bombers and associates meant to monitor the mission.
On Friday, a British intelligence agent and two from Israel were seen at the Anti-Terror Police Unit offices helping with the hunt.
The United Kingdom has had counter-terror officers visit Kenya to track down terror financier Samantha Lewthwaite, a British national who recently hinted that she was ready to end her life as a suicide bomber.
Lewthwaite and others are feared to be planning attacks to avenge the recent killings of several Al Shabaab leaders and sympathisers. If the attacks had gone ahead, it could have been the first time suicide vests had been used in a terror attack in Nairobi.
The explosive devices strapped to the vests were made using ball bearings and other shrapnel packed into explosive materials.
Some of the detonators were wired to switches, remote controls or mobile phones allowing the bombs to be set off remotely. Police say each weighed between 30 and 40kg.
Survey the targets
“The switches, remote controls and mobile phones were there for the suicide monitors who... detonate the bombs remotely if the bombers develop cold feet,” police explained.
Detectives from the Special Crimes Prevention Unit and Flying Squad said they stumbled on the weaponry while pursuing leads that the suspects had four rifles.
Six of the grenades are Chinese made while the rest are from Russia, said the head of bomb disposal unit Eliud Lagat.
Each of the four rifles had four magazines with 30 bullets.
Police believe the attackers would have shot at people during the attacks, using techniques seen in Mumbai in 2008.
The weapons were stored in two huge travelling suitcases and special bags at the house in the seven storeyed building. Those in custody told police their work was to deliver and store the weapons and survey the targets.
Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said the packed bags suggested the attacks could have taken place either in Nairobi or any other town. He added the suicide vests resembled those used during attacks in Kampala that left 76 people dead.
“These are dangerous people on the loose and if you know them or their activities help us get them,” said Kiraithe. The suspects, he said, had stuffed the explosives in cotton material to avoid detection at checkpoints.
Sharing of intelligence
Nairobi Area deputy police boss Moses Ombati said the sharing of intelligence between the public and police made the seizure possible.
Several people seem to have been living in the stuffy room where the weapons were hidden. There were three mattresses, food, several water jericans and clothes. Neighbours said the occupants of the one bedroom flat had just moved in. Ombati and Kiraithe blamed the Al Shabaab for the latest incident.
The seizure came a week after police seized 157 bomb detonators in Nairobi’s Githurai estate.
The detonators had switches similar to those that were netted in Eastleigh. Police did not immediately link the two incidents, but said they were still interrogating the suspects.
A woman was detained after she went to report to police that a man, who is not known to her, had left a bag containing the explosives in her kiosk.
Police said the woman told them the man had come with the bag with the detonators and asked her to keep it for him and that he would return to pick it after an hour.
But after two hours lapsed and the man failed to show up, the woman decided to check the contents. She saw the detonators and alerted police. The number of terror attacks in the country has increased since Kenya sent troops to Somalia last October to crush the militants.
