DCI publishes names of 4 wanted armed, dangerous terror suspects

The agency said the suspects are linked to the Alshabab terror network and responsible for the recent attacks in Lamu County.

“The DCI is appealing to members of the public to volunteer information that may lead to the arrest of the following terror suspects, linked to the Alshabab terror network and responsible for the recent attacks in Lamu County.

“The suspects who are trained, armed and dangerous have been linked to several acts of terror that have occurred in the country in the past.

The four are Abdullahi Banati, Maalim Ayman, Ramadhan Kioko, and Abdikadir Mohamed Abdikadir.

The United States and the DCI on Thursday, January 12 placed a Ksh1.2 billion bounty on one of the masterminds of the 2019 DusitD2 terror attack.

US Ambassador to Kenya Meg Whitman and DCI boss Mohammed Amin released the photo of Mohamoud Abdi Aden, a leader of the terrorist group al-Shabaab, said to be part of the cell that planned the attack on the hotel.

“The US Department of State’s Rewards for Justice (RFJ) program, which is administered by the Diplomatic Security Service, is offering a reward of up to USD10 million for the information leading to the arrest or conviction in any country.

“The Department of State designated al-Shabaab as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) in March 2008,” the ambassador said.

It said any person with information to contact Rewards for Justice via Signal, Telegram or Whatsapp at +12027027843 or via local tips lines at +254718712366 in Kenya and +252684343308 in Somalia.

Amin said following collaboration with the US and other local and foreign agencies, the country had witnesses a decrease in serious terror attacks.

The January 15, 2019 attack claimed 22 lives and that of four terrorists. It all began at 3.28pm with a detonation of a suicide bomber Mahir Riziki.

 Four gunmen – Ali Salim Gichunge, Osman Ibrahim Gedi, Siyat Omar Abdi, and an unknown individual – then proceeded to attack the compound using AK-pattern rifles and grenades, targeting people within the hotel and surrounding shops.

And in three minutes security forces arrived at the scene. On January 16 at 8am the four gunmen were cornered and killed.

According to investigations, al-shabaab dubbed the operation Al-Qudsu Lan Tuhawwad (“Jerusalem will never be Judaized”) and stated that it had targeted “Western and Zionist interests worldwide.

Investigations have shown the plan to launch the attack was mooted in 2015 when the cell leader Gichunge traveled to Somalia. In March 2018, facilitators in Jilib, Somalia, organised a fake ID for Siyat Omar Abdi and in April 2018, Gichunge and his wife Violet Wanjiru established a safe house in Muchatha, Kiambu County.

 Data extracted from the devices recovered from the house revealed communications between Gichunge and a cell coordinator based the al-Shabaab “capital” of Jilib, in Middle Juba region.

On December 15, 2018, an unknown attacker traveled to Eastleigh, Nairobi from Dadaab refugee camp and later on January 2, 2019 Osman Gedi Ibrahim traveled to Roysambu area, Nairobi from Danaba, north-eastern.

On January 5, 2019, Siyat Omar Abdi traveled to Eastleigh from Dadaab refugee camp and five days later, Osman Gedi Ibrahim moved to the safe house on the outskirts of Nairobi.

On January 11, 2019 suicide bomber Mahir Khalid Riziki traveled to the Nairobi safe house from Somalia through El Wak. Riziki crossed the border from Somalia to Kenya through El Wak on 11 January 2019.

He activated a Kenyan phone registered in the name of “Hibo Ahmed” that same morning, immediately placing a call to Somalia. At 6.21pm, Riziki placed his first call to Gichunge, arriving at the safe house in the outskirts of Nairobi later in the evening.

Except for his Somali contact and Gichunge, Riziki placed calls to only one other number from the time he entered Kenya until his death four days later, thereby limiting his exposure to police.

On January 13, 2019 Siyat Omar Abdi and the unknown attacker moved to the safe house and the following day the entire cell assembled at the safe house.

On the day of the attack the suicide bomber arrived at the complex at 3.14 pm and he made six calls to Gichunge.

At about 3.21 pm the four suicide gunmen – Gichunge, Omar, Ibrahim and the unidentified attacker arrived in a Toyota Ractis and they changed into black outfits.

Seven minutes later Riziki detonated himself outside Secret Garden restaurant and four minutes later the four gunmen walked into the complex and begun throwing grenades and firing indiscriminately.

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