Kenya: Military officers have arrested three young women believed to be Al-Shabaab sympathisers in Wajir as they attempted to cross into Somalia from where they were to be transported to Iraq and Syria to become ‘Jihadist brides’.
The arrest of the three women thwarted an ambitious attempt by the trio to join extremists, but also raised fear among residents, with families of the women reported to be too traumatised by the event to speak.
Two families in Malindi acknowledged that their three daughters had gone missing for days and said they had been informed they were arrested in Wajir on Friday.
The families released a statement through human rights group Haki Africa, indicating that the three women had been arrested.
Three young women have been arrested by military personnel in Wajir while allegedly trying to sneak into Somalia to become “jihadist brides” and suicide bombers.
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At least two of the women are believed to have been students in university campuses in Mombasa while the third, said to be Tanzanian, is said to have secured a scholarship to study at Khartoum’s International University in Sudan.
The suspects are now being held in police stations in Mombasa.
Although authorities in Mombasa say only three women were arrested, some accounts claim up to six women were arrested by anti-terrorism police while trying to enter Somalia from Wajir. It is believed they wanted to join Somalia’s terrorist group Al-Shabaab and later head to Iraq and Syria through Turkey from Mogadishu.
On Sunday, Mombasa county commissioner Nelson Marwa identified the Tanzanian suspect as Ummul Khayr Sadir Abdullah from Zanzibar. He said she is a 19-year-old Medicine student.
Marwa said last evening the three women were recruited through social media to become “jihadist brides” and suicide bombers and were to be picked in Mandera by an unnamed contact.
“They were arrested trying to enter Somalia through El Wak,” said Marwa who also identified the Kenyans as Khadija Abubakar and Mariam Saad. Both are both 21 years old.
Marwa said the Tanzanian confessed to interrogators that she was recruited by a Mr Abdalla Zubeir who allegedly contacted her via a cell phone from Somalia.
If confirmed, this will be the first time that Kenyan women have been arrested planning to travel abroad on a jihadist mission.
Two families in Malindi have said their daughters have been missing for days, and that they were informed that they were arrested in Wajir on Friday.
The families were reluctant to speak to journalists but released a statement through human rights group Haki Africa.
Francis Auma, an official at Haki Africa, told The Standard last evening that the women were arrested in Wajir on Wednesday and taken to Mombasa. He said both were from Malindi and were students at a university in Mombasa.
Auma alleged that the two were being held at Makupa and Port police stations in Mombasa and that their families had been denied access to them.
The Standard established that Mariam is a Bachelor of Commerce student at a private university in Mombasa while Khadija studies at a campus of a public university in Mombasa, but we could not confirm the course she is enrolled in. Sources, however, indicated that she had previous training in nursing.
Marwa’s statement, however, said Khadija was a Bachelor of Science (Pharmacy) student at Mount Kenya University while Mariam was a Bachelor of Commerce student at Kenyatta University’s Mombasa campus between 2009 and 2012.
We also established that Khadija and Mariam lived in the same apartment in Mombasa.
Intelligence sources told The Standard the trio might have travelled together from Mombasa to Nairobi through to Wajir by bus.
An official who asked not to be named told The Standard the three women had been trailed by Tanzanian and Kenyan intelligence for months over suspected links to terrorism and Al-Shabaab.
The County Commissioner said intelligence information indicated Khadija was recruited to Al-Shabaab by Mariam who had been inducted into Al-Shabaab in Tanzania through the internet.
“The three ladies were intercepted at El Wak before reaching Mandera where they were to meet their contact who was to facilitate their movement to Somalia,” said Marwa.
