Africa Focus: Kenyan police hunts suspects behind terror recruitment

Kenyan police on Monday released names of three key Al-Shabaab wanted suspects behind recent terror attacks and recruitment of youth to join militant groups in the East African nation.

The three identified as Abdifatah Abubakar Ahmed, Ramadhan Kufungwa and Ahmed Iman Ali are believed to be members of Al-Shabaab affiliate group Jesh Ayman operating in the country.

The police said they have profiled the suspects and shared the details including photographs among security agents.

"Some of the disappeared Kenyan youth have travelled to Somalia and received training under the Al-Shabaab extremists," the police said in their situation report.

The police said some of the disappeared Kenyan youth have returned and continue to return to Kenya with the mission to wage war against their fellow Kenyan citizens under the guise of fighting for Islam.

"Some of the disappeared youth were amongst those attacked the Baure Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) Camp in June in Lamu," the police said.

A number of parents have raised concern and even reported to the police about the disappearance of their sons and daughters who have gone missing for months.

One of the gunmen involved in the Garissa University terror attack that killed 148 people on April 2 was a young promising Kenyan lawyer.

The extremists are now targeting young people who are members of a particular youth groups like the football clubs and convert Christians to Muslims. They entice them with money and a promise of better lives ahead.

The report obtained by Xinhua indicates two of the suspects Abubakar and Kufungwa are responsible for radicalization of youth in the coastal city of Mombasa.

Abubakar was responsible for a series of terror attacks in the coastal town of Lamu where more than 100 people were massacred in July 2014.

"He was involved in attack planning and coordinating within Al-Shabaab as part of the commanders of Jesh Ayman in the vast Boni forest Lamu," the report said.

The intelligence report further accuses Abubakar of being behind the Westgate terror attack in September 2013.

He was deported to Somalia in 2008 for harboring terror suspect Harun Fazul and slain Saleh Nabhan the latter was killed by American Navy Seals in 2009.

He is married to Zamzam Mohamed Hajj and operates from Somalia but holds a valid Kenya identification.

Security agents link Abubakar to recruitment of three young women who were arrested at Elwak area along the Kenya-Somalia border as they attempted to sneak into Somalia to become Al-Shabaab brides.

Abubakar's accomplice, Kufungwa, was an Imam at the controversial Musa Mosque in the Majengo Mombasa.

Kufungwa is allegedly accused of being behind a spate of violent robberies, forceful takeover of Mosque in Mombasa and killing of moderate imams in the recent past.

The third sought suspect is Ahmed Iman Ali who has appeared severally in Al-Shabaab propaganda video urging Kenyan youth to take up arms and kill innocent Kenyans under the guise of religion.

"He resides in Somalia where he currently operates. However, he continues to lure vulnerable Kenyan youth to cross into Somalia using illegal means to join Al-Shabaab," says the report.

The report warns that more Kenya youth both at higher learning institutions and secondary schools are being indoctrinated to fight along with the Al-Shabaab and Islamic state terror groups in Middle East.

The move comes as tension is high in Basuba village in the coastal town of Lamu after over 50 Al-Shabaab militants entered the area on Saturday.

The militants had their faces covered and wore jungle green camouflage uniforms and were heavily armed. Endit