Kenya makes mass ‘al-Qaida’ arrests
Kenyan authorities have arrested more than two dozen suspects wanted for two al-Qaida attacks, including some sought by the United States.
The suspects, including several alleged masterminds, were accused of taking part in the 1998 car bombing of the US Embassy in Nairobi and the November 2002 attack on a coastal hotel in Mombasa, the independent East African Standard newspaper reported on Saturday.
Most of the suspects are foreigners and were rounded up by Kenyan authorities and foreign security agencies in a recent “anti-terror” operation, National Security Minister Christopher Murungaru told the paper, which gave no other details.
Some were arrested in neighboring Somalia, a country without an effective government for more than decade, Murungaru said.
US officials refused to comment, and Kenyan officials were not immediately available for comment.
‘Most wanted list’
The minister refused to identify the suspects, although he was quoted as saying that some were on a US “most wanted list”. However, the Kenyan government does not plan to extradite them to the United States, Murungaru said.
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FBI has named 21 men including |
The FBI has a list of 21 most wanted armed fighters that includes key suspects in both attacks. These include Fazul Abd Allah Muhammad, the alleged mastermind of the attacks, who was indicted by a US court for his alleged role in the embassy bombing.
Usama bin Laden was also indicted by the same court for the 1998 bombing.
In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press earlier this month, Marine Brig. Gen. Mastin Robeson, the commander of a US-led “anti-terrorism” task force in the region, said 25 “terror” suspects have been killed or captured by forces from the US and its regional partners, including Kenya.