Mogadishu-KNN-Police in Mombasa gunned down three wanted suspected members of al Shabaab on Tuesday in a dawn raid in Likoni amid intelligence reports of imminent terror attacks at the Coast.
Intelligence reports indicate that possible targets include Moi International Airport, the SGR Terminus, Kenya Ports Authority and social venues, including popular beaches.
Following intelligence leads, Anti-Terror Police Unit officers raided a house in Majengo Mapya area where the militants had hidden before they were killed in a shootout on Tuesday.
“We have scaled up operations through a multi-agency approach. We were guided by very critical information on some people operating in Likoni since May,” said acting Coast regional CID coordinator Paul Leting.
HE said the three were planning attacks and mapping out areas to launch terror attacks.
Police also arrested seven people who were driven to Coast Police Headquarters.
“We are subjecting them to a necessary interrogation to see if they have any links with criminal activities,” Leting said.
Police recovered dozens of rounds of AK-47 ammunition, pistols, several loaded pistol magazines, police and KDF uniforms, pangas, knives, a grenade, ammonia and religious books.
They also recovered a G3 rifle used by the militants to fire at police officers during the raid.
Other items include shotgun ammunition, sniper bullets and two bulletproof vests.
Police sources say the rifle, which had been burned near the barrel may have been used in Dusit D2 attack in Nairobi’s Westlands that killed 21 people on January 15.
The police raid and shootout came days after a terror alert about al Shabaab in the Coast region.
Intelligence reports indicate that the militants are planning to enter the country using police vehicles and UN-branded vehicles. They plan to disguise themselves as police.
Vehicles were stolen during previous raids in Northeastern.
A police commandant who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter said that the alert was circulated to the command chain last week.
“We received this from our confidential sources and the information was disseminated,” he said.
Regional Critical Infrastructure Protection Unit head Nelson Masengele said that security has been intensified at key installations and areas.
“We are awake and more than alert. All areas have been secured,” he told the Star on the phone on Monday.
Other police sources from Changamwe subcounty, Kwale and Tana River counties confirmed the reports of planned attacks but said patrols and vigilance had been intensified.
The al Shabaab alert for the Coast follows killings in the Kwale region which has been infiltrated by militants.
Last week, police killed a suspected criminal after he was ordered to surrender but instead attacked police with a knife.
On August 30, police killed al Shabaab suspect Mohamed Rashid Mwatsumiro, alias Modi, after a raid at his Ngomeni home. They recovered an Austrian-made Glock pistol and materials for making improvised explosive devices.
Mwatsumiro had been accused of facilitating radicalisation training for youths in Likoni and Kwale and organising their trips to Somalia in 2018.
On Sunday police arrested Fawaz Ahmed Hamdun in Majengo, Mombasa, a terror suspect linked to the Dusit attack.
He is said to have helped suicide bomber Mahir Riziki sneak back into Kenya from Somalia days before the attack.
Earlier in the day, police had issued an alert on Abdiwaahid Khalif Abdi, alias Ise Tarabuun, who sneaked into the country on September 24. He had been arrestedin Mogadishu by AMISOM in 2017 over terror claims and later released.
Yesterday, Leting said more suspects would be arrested in an ongoing operation.
Th Star
