Security agencies now links controversial sheikh to slain Al Shabaab militant

Sheikh Guyo in the dock at Milimani Court. The police have asked 30 days to finish investigations. Sheikh is being held for terror-related attacks and radicalisation in Marsabit [George Njunge, Standard]

An Intelligence report by Kenyan security agencies has linked controversial Muslim Sheikh Guyo Goza to slain Al Shabaab operative Mbaraka Ali Huka who was killed in Isiolo recently.

The report says that Mbarak Abdi Huka, who was killed at Merti, was Sheikh Guyo’s recruit who had gone to train with Al-Shabaab in Somalia and returned to Kenya to lead a terror cell that was disrupted in mid-February 2018 in Isiolo.

“Fingerprints collected from the deceased match those of Mbarak Ali Huka that we have in our database,” said one of the investigators who sought anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media. DNA analysis is expected to complement the fingerprint examination.

The prosecution will rely on the report to have the sheikh, who’s facing terror-related charges, convicted.

Demonstrations

Mbarak was among four suspected terrorists who were in a vehicle, registration number KBM 200D, hidden in a thicket at Mataarba in Merti Sub-county, Isiolo County, on February 15.

The Al Shabaab operatives are suspected to have been discussing a planned attack in Nairobi before they were ambushed by the police.

“At around 4:30 pm while on a return journey from a security patrol at Yamicha, we spotted a vehicle parked in a thicket located at an intersection of a dry river bed on Isiolo-Merti-Wajir road.

“When we approached the vehicle to inspect its occupants, one occupant came out and started shooting at us forcing us to return fire killing him on the spot,” one of the officers involved in the operation said.

Police recovered five AK 47 rifles, 36 fully loaded magazines, one magazine with 22 rounds of ammunition, an empty magazine, 36 unprimed hand grenades, 18 Improvised Explosive Devices, three knives, and a black Al-Shabaab flag from the suspects’ vehicle.

Trained in Jilib

Investigations have since established that Mbarak, a last born in a family of four was born on June 22, 1991 in Mountain area, Saku constituency, Marsabit County.

He attended Sakuu Primary School between 1999 and 2006 and proceeded to Marsabit Secondary School which he left in 2010.

Mbarak taught at Taqwa Madrassa run by Sheikh Guyo where it is believed he was radicalised and recruited into Al Shabaab and later connected to Hassan Jarso Kotolla in Somalia. Jarso was also a teacher at madrassa Taqwa.

Investigations have revealed that in April 2011, Mbarak lied to his family that he was traveling to join the Technical University of Mombasa but he instead went to Somalia to join Al-Shabaab.

He was trained in Jilib and he later settled in Barawe where he rose through the ranks to command his own sub-unit that was tasked with carrying out attacks on soft targets along the Kenya-Somalia border, especially within Lamu County.

Intelligence reports indicate that Mbarak’s unit was involved in the June 2014 Lamu-Tana Delta attacks as well as the foiled attack on a KDF base at Baure in June 2015.

His death comes at a time when Guyo is facing charges of recruiting youth into Al Shabaab in Marsabit County and supporting the militants in Somalia. 

The Sheikh was arrested by Anti Terrorism Police Unit officer on January 13, last year, sparking demonstrations in Marsabit town that left three dead, a police vehicle torched and Marsabit Catholic church vandalised.

Police investigations have established that the youth who caused chaos are former and current students of the Sheikh at Taqwa Madrassa