Man killed outside US embassy was 'lone wolf'

FBI officials take sample tests of a suspected terrorist shot dead outside US Embassy in Nairobi after he stabbed one of the GSU officers as he tried to snatch a rifle from him. Fresh details have emerged on the man shot dead last month after he attacked a General Service Unit officer guarding the US Embassy in Gigiri, Nairobi. (PHOTO MOSES OMUSULA/ STANDARD)

Fresh details have emerged on the man shot dead last month after he attacked a General Service Unit officer guarding the US Embassy in Gigiri, Nairobi.

Detectives investigating Abdimahat Hassan are trying to establish the motive of the October 27 attack.

Investigators believe Abdimahat could have been a self-radicalised jihadist operating as a lone wolf, a term used to describe someone who is inspired by the ideology and beliefs of a terrorist group but plans and commits violent acts outside any command structure of the jihadist organisations or groups.

Officers who have been following the matter reveal the family described Abdimahat as a wonder boy.

"He was a genius, with an outstanding ability," a family member told detectives, adding that he was a man of God since his early childhood.

His mother reportedly told the detectives that she was concerned about her son because he had become an introvert, religious and lonesome and disliked mingling and/or associating with people.

The detectives say even Abdimahat's brother Yusuf wondered how he was attached to violent extremist ideologies.

The mother was concerned especially when she asked him to get married and he declined saying he was not interested in the worldly affairs and the only thing he desired was the virgins in heaven, the investigators say.

The matter is being investigated by the Anti-Terror Police Unit and officials from the FBI and National Intelligence Service.

Abdimahat's mother told detectives that her son had said that life was meaningless and he had a premonition that he would die before he turned 30.

Detectives said the mother also had confided to a friend that her son used to watch jihadist movies and spent most of his time praying.

Jihadist movies are films about the battles fought between Muslims and Christians during the time of prophet Mohamed.

The movies are used by terrorists to radicalise gullible and unsuspecting people who have shallow or contorted understanding of Islam.

The US Embassy incident came a few weeks after ISIS published an article in its propaganda magazine outlining how to use a knife to carry out a terror attack.