KDF arrests mastermind of 2015 Mandera bus attack

KDF alongside the JSF capture Abdullahi Dimbil, the mastermind of the 2015 Mandera Bus terrorist attack. [Courtesy]

The Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) working together with Jubaland Security Forces (JSF) have arrested Abdullahi Dimbil Ahmed, the mastermind of the 2015 Mandera bus attack, Strategic Intelligence, an online publication, reports.

According to the On-line report, Dimbil was arrested on Monday together with one of his associates outside the Jubbaland Security Forces camp in Southern Somalia.

of the arrest, the Director of Counter-Terrorism, National Security and Intelligence Analysis David Goldman cited intelligence reports saying  Dimbil is a resident of Kutulo area in Wajir County.

“Abdullahi Dimbil is a top AS revenue officer. Intelligence reports confirm he is from Kutulo, Wajir County in North Eastern Kenya."

The publication said that the suspect was a financier of terrorist activities as he held revenue for Al-Shabaab estimated to be hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“He was also responsible for the disbursement of payments to fighters and funding cross-border terror attacks,” the publication said.

He was the mastermind of the 2016 Mandera Bus terrorists attack alongside Mohamed Osman, Mohamed Ahmed, and Abubakar Yunis.

Two people were killed in the Mandera bus attack in December 2015, near the north-eastern village of El Wak on the Somali border.

The bus was travelling from Nairobi to Mandera.

During the attack, a group of Muslims travelling on the bus protected Christian passengers by refusing to be separated from them.

Witnesses and authorities said militants who had taken control of the bus tried to separate Muslims from Christians, but the former refused. Instead, the Muslims told the militants to kill them together or leave them alone.