Terror suspects now linked to slain Muslim cleric Aboud Rogo

Radical Sheikh Aboud Rogo who was killed in Mombasa on August 27, 2012. Though dead, reports still link terror networks to him. [PHOTO: FILE/STANDARD]

Kenya: On the eve of the third anniversary of the unsolved murder of radical Sheikh Aboud Rogo in Mombasa on August 27, 2012, about 20 terror suspects were arrested and weapons discovered in Garissa town.

Significantly one cache was found buried in a house near the livestock market, less than three kilometres from the Garissa University College where terrorists massacred close to 150 people.

The arrests have alarmed counter terrorism officials in Coast, Nairobi and North Eastern, especially who wonder whether to declare the latest findings as a breakthrough against Al Shabaab and its allies or if this signals that terrorists are expanding their networks.

The arrest of eight Tanzanians in Liboi mid last week, apparently, as they tried to enter Southern Somalia and the earlier capture of two women (including a Tanzanian) among other suspected terrorists in Garissa County reinforces the dogma that young women are increasingly responding to the call to jihad.

“We have been following leads for at least one month,” says North Eastern’s regional commander Muhamud Saleh referring to the August 22 and 23 nocturnal raids in Liboi that netted the terror suspects and weapons caches buried in what police now suspect to be safe houses that were being used to plot attacks.

Sources indicate that counter-terrorism detectives have not come up with a clear picture of what these men and women were up to although one official told The Standard on Sunday that “the women were (jihadist) brides and were off to be married in Somalia,” a phenomenon that has been growing since the first arrest of young women from Zanzibar and Malindi on a similar mission at El Wak in April.

Mass murder

It has also emerged that following these arrests, alerts were sent out to Mombasa, Nairobi and Garissa.

Saleh said authorities believe these detainees were planning an attack in Kenya this August but he did not provide more details about the nature of ambush. A detective disclosed that most of suspects hail from outside Garissa and had been inserted by unknown masterminds to cause mass murder. “They have told us they were waiting for orders on targets and when to attack,” said the detective.

The detective also disclosed that most of the suspects held what are believed to be false Kenyan ID cards and that four of the men detained were the “commanders” of a massive terror plot that appears to have been averted or postponed.

Meanwhile, several detectives have revealed that investigators have formed preliminary observations that many loopholes still remain, less than four months after the Garissa University College massacre.

Although they believe a major attack has been averted, they also know unless the loopholes are sealed, another plot will be in progress soon.

The detectives point to growing militant activity in Lamu and southern parts of Garissa county where militants, detonate explosives, ambush police and the military. These attacks began in Korahindi in Ijara on May 12 this year and have spread eastwards to Yumbis in Fafi sub-county of Garissa then south into northern Lamu. Investigators suspect the aborted plot in Garissa had been planned to coincide with the third anniversary of Rogo’s death. They say Coast and North Eastern should be viewed as one region when studying terrorism with a special interest in Rogo and the late Sheikh Sharif Abubakar alias Makaburi.

“We are trying to find out if the suspects arrested in Garissa are linked to what is happening in Lamu’s,” says Saleh. Exponents of the hypothesis that the suspects in Garissa wanted to avenge Rogo’s and Makaburi’s assassinations point to several recent facts of history and apparent coincidences related to the April 1 carnage at the Garissa college and the insurgency in Lamu.

Big roles

These exponents are boosted by a 2013 UN report and March 2015 report by the United Kingdom which showed that Rogo and Makaburi were playing big roles in Al Shabaab activity in Kenya despite being dead.

Makaburi features first and Rogo 12th in the latest report by the British on it Foreign and Commonwealth website on March 3, approximately a month before the Garissa attack which was masterminded by Garissa native Mohamed Kunow alias Gamadheere.

This report shows despite being dead, Rogo and Makaburi still inspire attacks across Kenya.

Makaburi was killed on April 1 last year and Rogo slain on August 27, 2012. They were friends and co-suspects on various alleged terrorist plots in Mombasa and Nairobi. In July 2012, both were placed on UN and US sanctions lists and Rogo killed after about three weeks. Before his death, Rogo praised the July 1, 2012 attack on a Garissa church in which 17 worshipers and a Muslim policeman were killed.

The report does not state why Makaburi and Rogo remain on this list sparking an impression that Western intelligence officials believe the two deceased’s assets or associates still fund Al Shabaab.

Significantly, key slain terrorists like Fazul Harun Abdullah are not on this list suggesting their influence and networks are now defunct.

A 2013 UN report monitoring terrorism in Somalia compiled after Rogo’s death suggested that although terrorists may die, they still exert influence from the grave through ideology, assets or associates.

It concluded that Rogo was “kept on the list pending clarity about his assets and given the ongoing investigations into Al Hijra and the activities of Mr Rogo’s former associates.” The UN report identified Rogo’s associates as Makaburi and detained British terror suspect Jermaine Grant.