Terror suspect Ismael Shosi killed in Kisauni shootout with police

Terror suspect Ismael Mohamed Shosi. (Photo: Courtesy)

Mombasa: Wanted terror suspect Ismael Mohamed Shosi was Tuesday killed in an armed confrontation with Anti-Terrorism Police (ATPU) in Kisauni, Mombasa County.

Police also recovered a Police G-3 rifle, 188 rounds of ammunition for both 9mm Pistol and G-3 rifle, a training manual on how to defeat intelligence, two mobile phones and identification cards belonging to multiple individuals.

The residence in which Ismael Shosi was hiding belongs to one Fatuma Masuo, the widow of the late Kassim Omollo – an Al-Qaeda operative who was killed in a gun shootout with police in mid 2013, police said.

Kisauni OCPD Richard Ngatia said the suspect was shot dead at around 11.30am when police raided a rental house in Mwandoni, where he had moved two days ago.

A Sh2 million bounty had been put on his head.

Shosi alias Ismael Mmanga has been a fugitive of the law for his terror related activities. He is linked to the Jeysh Ayman wing of Al-Shabaab that was responsible for the Mpeketoni attacks of 2014 and the foiled Baure KDF Camp attack of 2015 in which several of his associates were killed.

Shosi was a trained Al-Shabaab operative specialised in assassinations. He was amongst the suspects responsible for the murder of Sheikh Mohamed Idriss on June 10 2014.

Sheikh Mohamed Idriss was the chairman of CIPK Mombasa and was amongst the moderate clerics working against radicalisation in the Coast.

The slain suspect was also the main suspect in the killing of Mohamed Ibrahim, a CID Officer who was murdered in Old Town Mombasa on March 25, 2015.

“He alongside his late brother Ikrima Mohamed Shosi were the main suspects behind the killing of Hashim Omar, an officer within the National Intelligence Service while he was leaving the Mosque near Kunze Mombasa on July 2 2015,” said Ngatia.

Police said he, alongside other accomplices, attacked and killed two Police officers guarding Gulf Africa Bank in Old-Town, Mombasa. The attackers fled with the G-3 rifles issued to the slain policemen.

“Shosi was a fugitive of the law who was reported to dress in women’s BuiBui to evade arrest by authorities.”

Investigations on him have been on-going and the publication of his name and photo as a wanted suspect led to various public tip-offs that the police acted upon.

On January 4, 2016, police raided a house in Majengo, Mombasa following information from the public that indicated that the house was the hideout for Ismael Mohamed Shosi and other wanted terror suspects Hussein Omar Said and Kassim Mohamed Abdallah.

While the terrorists escaped the raid, police recovered from the Majengo house an arms cache that included a G-3 rifle stolen from a police officer guarding the bank an M4 rifle stolen in November 2014, 345 rounds of ammunition, 15 phones and a laptop.

Following the Majengo raid, another tip-off by the public led to the raid on a Malindi residence on January 20, 2016. The occupants of that house were believed to have been hiding in the Majengo house and were close associates of Ismael Mohamed Shosi.

Following a shootout with Police, four terrorists were gunned down and one Police officer injured.