Two arrested as top terror suspect flees

• Fazul is wanted over the August 7, 1998 bomb attacks on the American embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-salaam
• Police believe that Fazul now on the run and he has neither money nor a passport.
• Sources said Fazul may have crossed the border to escape US intelligence officers

Al-Qaeda mastermind Fazul Abdullah escaped a police dragnet at the weekend only three hours after two of his accomplices were arrested and interrogated by the Anti-Terrorism Police in Malindi.

Two men were arrested on Saturday as the officers foiled a plot they believe would have resulted to a terrorism attack in Kenya.

Fazul is wanted over the August 7, 1998 bomb attacks on the American embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-salaam. A Sh325 million reward has been offered to anybody who helps the police to capture Fazul. Security officers have asked anyone with information to reach them on telephone number 0714746144.

On the run

During the weekend crackdown, the squad of 25 officers backed by the GSU’s Recce Company, raided a house in Malindi where Fazul was believed to have been hiding. They were acting on information they received after interrogating the suspects identified as Ibrahim Mahfoudh and his father, Mahfoudh Ashour.

The officers narrowly missed Fazul but found two passports and a laptop computer they believe were abandoned as the terror suspect escaped the police dragnet. The foreign passports bore photographs of Fazul while the computer had not been switched off.

On Sunday, a police source told the Nation that those in custody had earlier in the day met “al-Qaeda chiefs for an unknown mission.”

On Sunday evening, Human Rights Forum official Al-Amin Kimanthi said Mahfoudh was being held alongside his wife, Lutfia Abubakar and their eight-year-old daughter. He described Mahfoudh as a restaurant owner in Malindi.

Mr Kimanthi said it was illegal to hold a child in custody just because its parents were under arrest.

Initially, the suspects were taken to Malindi police station where they were held overnight and interrogated. On Sunday, they were moved to Mombasa under a heavy police escort.

During the 1998 attack on the US embassy in Nairobi, 206 Kenyans were killed while another 5,000 were injured. Since then, authorities have always believed that Fazul has been hiding in Somalia but there have been indications that he could have sneaked back to Kenya.

Sources said Fazul may have crossed the border to escape US intelligence officers who have been concentrating their search in Mogadishu, the Somalia capital. Other sources said the man could have fallen ill and was seeking treatment in Kenya.

Mahfoudh, also believed to have been running errands for Fazul, is expected in court Monday on accusations of harbouring a fugitive.

The weekend arrests mark another dramatic development in the fight against terrorism in Kenya. In the past, security officers have foiled several bombing plots on Kenyan soil.