Wanted terror suspect arrested in city swoop

Police are holding a man suspected to have masterminded the 2002 Kikambala bombing.

Detectives are carrying out further tests to establish whether the suspect is Mr Issa Osman Issa, one of the most wanted terrorists in the region.

He was arrested together with two Tunisians in Nairobi’s Eastleigh estate at the weekend. A couple that was hosting them was also arrested by the anti-terrorism police.

Mr Issa was named in a United States Government report two years ago as having “served as a commander of al-Shabaab forces in Somalia,” and continues to hold leadership role.

The report said he was one of the operatives who fired the surface-to-air missiles in the failed 2002 attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner in Mombasa, the day the Paradise Hotel was bombed, killing 12 people and injuring 40 others.

Detectives have confiscated a South African passport Issa was using and suspect was forged. His host is on anti-terror police’s list of al-shabaab sympathisers.

Issa is alleged to have led a militia assault on Mogadishu’s Basil Hotel in April 2007.

The hotel is frequented by Ugandan peacekeepers.

The arrests come in the wake of a crackdown on terror suspects following the suicide bomb attacks in Kampala last month.

Twelve other suspects were arrested on Saturday at the Coast.

Among them were three Tanzanians seized in Lamu after arriving on a fishing boat from Somalia.

The vessel was searched but no arms were found. They were interrogated and gave information that led to the arrest of their accomplices, all Kenyans, in Malindi and Mombasa.

Police are convinced they are terrorists because they recovered rolls of paper, covered in waterproof material concealed in the hems of their clothes.