The fate of fugitive terrorist Samantha Lewthwaite, nicknamed White Widow, remained unclear as Kenyan security sources said they believed she was still in Somalia.
The Interpol office in Nairobi and Anti-Terror Police Unit said separately they had no confirmation Ms Lewthwaite was killed in Ukraine as claimed. The security agencies' reports were corroborated by counter-terror officials in Nairobi who also claimed she was living in southern Somalia.
"We have checked with the Interpol headquarters and they say no confirmation has so far come from Ukraine that she is dead. We stand by our earlier report that she is in Somalia," said head of Interpol office in Nairobi Vitalis Okumu.
An official at ATPU who asked not to be named also said they believed Lewthwaite was still in Somalia. "The reports that she died in Ukraine are not correct," said the senior official.
The UK's Daily Mail also said Lewthwaite lived in southern Somalia with her jihadist husband, a wanted Al-Qaeda suspect who calls himself Marco Costa. According to the Mail, a forged Mozambican passport with his picture clearly identifies him as Fahmi Salim, who has been on the run from Kenyan police since he shot and killed two police officers in Nairobi in 2011.
Reports of Lewthwaite's death emerged in response to claims from a Moscow news agency earlier this week that she had been killed by sniper fire while fighting with a Ukrainian volunteer battalion against pro-Russian rebels. The security agencies in Nairobi said they believed Lewthwaite still posed a threat to the country at large in retaliation for Kenya sending troops to Somalia to fight Al-Shabaab.
Lewthwaite is considered an important banker/logistician for Al-Shabaab. Until recently, she was a devoted follower of Ahmed Godane, the Al-Shabaab founder and spiritual leader who announced an alliance with Al-Qaeda in June 2011. Mr Godane was the mastermind behind the Westgate Mall raid last September. He was killed two months ago in an American air strike on a convoy in southern Somalia.
