Police pursue two suspected of attacking chief

By David Ochami and Tobias Chanji

COAST, KENYA: Security agencies in Kwale are pursuing two suspects following Friday’s grenade attack on Ng’ombeni chief Omar Hussein.

This comes less than 48 hours after Anti-terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) detectives nabbed seven terror suspects in Kanamai in Mombasa.

Among those detained are Khubeid Rogo, a son of slain radical preacher Sheikh Aboud Rogo and Swaleh Abdulmajid, a husband to Rogo’s daughter, Rumaisa.

Rumaisa and her husband were arrested soon after tying the knot but they were released after 24 hours.

Now police allege the suspect who tried to kill the chief hurled the explosive believing the local chief’s office had divulged intelligence on Al Shabaab recruitment in Ng’ombeni and Kilifi.

Kwale Administration Police Commandant, Wilson Gichuhi identified a suspect on the run as Omar Hussein.

And Kwale County Commissioner Evans Achoki told The Standard that “the suspect is to known to the police.”  Other sources identified Omar as a resident of Ng’ombeni village in Kwale.

Volatile area

Meanwhile, reports from Ng’ombeni trading centre where the attack occurred on Friday morning indicate the chief’s attacker who escaped on foot might have been injured in the blast .

Ng’ombeni is a volatile area, notorious stronghold for the separatist Mombasa Republican Council (MRC). Bomb experts at the scene said fragments picked there indicated the explosive was a hand grenade but were unable to determine its origin immediately.

Hussein and two others injured in the blast are admitted to the Coast General Hospital with leg and neck injuries.

When The Standard spoke with the chief at a local dispensary on Friday before he was transferred to the Coast General Hospital he claimed “the assailant wore a red military T-shirt”.

“He came over to where we were seated and removed something from his pocket and threw it at us.”

A witness Omar Nassoro Liwasa also said the act was carried out by a single attacker dressed “in red shirt.”