Terror mastermind Fazul killed

By Standard Reporter

The presumed leader of al-Qaeda in East Africa was killed in Mogadishu on Wednesday this week, police and Al Shabaab sources say.

Police commissioner Mathew Iteere on Saturday confirmed initial intelligence reports Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, also known as Harun Fazul, is dead.

Anti-terrorism police are, however, waiting on DNA results to confirm the death of the Comoros-born terrorist, who also holds Kenyan travel documents.

"We have received that communication from authorities in Somalia," Iteere said on Saturday. "We have been told that there were two terrorists who were killed in Somalia on Wednesday last week." Iteere said the identity of one of the two had "been given as Fazul Muhammad".

The news of Fazul’s killing has also reportedly been confirmed by Islamist rebels in Somalia. A senior Al Shabaab commander who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity said: "One of the men that was killed near Mogadishu was Fazul Abdullah, may Allah bless his soul. He is not dead as thousands like him are still in the fight against the enemy of Allah."

News of Fazul’s death was broken exclusively by our sister company KTN on the ‘KTN at One’ news bulletin and the @KTNKenya Twitter feed then picked up by the international media.

The key al-Qaeda figure was reportedly killed by Transitional Federal Government forces at a roadblock in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, alongside another terror suspect. Initial reports from the Kenya Police have identified the second man killed as ‘Ali Dhere’, one of the names used by Al Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohammed Raghe. We have been unable to confirm whether Raghe is also dead. Reports in Somali media claim Raghe issued a statement on a bombing in Mogadishu that took place a day after the two terror suspects were killed.

Fazul had been indicted in New York for his alleged involvement in the twin bombings of the American embassies in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi on August 7, 1998. The attacks left hundreds of people killed and thousands more injured. Earlier this year, U.S. forces killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden during a raid in Pakistan, raising Fazul’s ranking on the FBI’s most-wanted terrorists list. The FBI had offered a Sh400 million for information leading to his arrest.