Ministry: Mohamed Kuno was not killed in US drone attack
Garissa University College attack mastermind Mohamed Dulyadayn (also known as Kuno or Gamadhere). Details about his killing in a targeted air strike in Somalia on May 31, 2016 remain scanty. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
The 2am attack, which took place in Juungal, between Baardheere and Buur Hajje, was as a result an intensified US campaign against terrorism in the region.
Security reports indicate that Kenya was declared relatively safe before the White House announced President Obama's visit.
A Kenyan man who was Al-Shabaab's top commander behind the Garissa University College attack has not been killed in a US drone attack in Somalia, the Interior ministry has clarified.
Interior Ministry spokesman Mwenda Njoka on Thursday evening said Mohamed Kuno, alias Gamadheere, was not among militants killed in the Wednesday 2am attack, in Juungal.
The attack was as a result of an intensified US campaign against terrorism in the region.
Kuno, the mastermind of the April 2 Garissa attack, was in charge of external operations against Kenya, and was not among those killed in the attack.
Mr Njoka said the body of one of Al-Shabaab commanders killed in the attack had been collected from the scene for forensic identification.
NAMED MASTERMIND
Residents said several blasts were heard at dawn before the body was found later in the day.
After the blasts, heavily armed Al-Shabaab fighters rushed to the scene, near Juba River, about 460 kilometres west of Mogadishu, where the dead man was found.
After the attack, the terrorists cut off the region's telecommunications network for hours.
Kuno was a former teacher in Garissa and has been named the mastermind of the massacre that claimed 148 lives, including 142 students.
He was first brought to the attention of Kenyans by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations on December 17 last year, when a Sh20 million bounty was put on his head.
OBAMA VISIT
The attack came as the United States intensified its campaign against terrorism in Kenya and in neighbouring Somalia.
There has been a major and unprecedented involvement of US security agents in the campaign, prompted by President Obama’s visit to Kenya next week.
Already, at least 11 terrorism suspects, two of them from the Dadaab refugee camp, have been arrested in the past four days but details about their whereabouts remain scanty.
Though the terrorists have been driven out of most of the key towns they once held, Bardere is one of the few ones still under their control.
TERROR FIGHT
Security reports indicate that Kenya was declared relatively safe before the White House announced President Obama's visit.
However, the pre-announcement assessment recommended increasing the fight against terrorism.
As a result, US counter-terrorism officers enhanced their operations in East Africa, focusing more on Somalia.
The enhanced operation also led to the killing of Adan Garar, a Shabaab leader linked to the 2013 Westgate attack, in a drone attack in Diinsoor, in southern Somalia, on March 12.
EDITOR'S NOTE: An earlier version of this story published on Thursday, July 16, 2015, had indicated that Al-Shabaab commander Mohamed Kuno, alias Gamadheere, had been killed in a US drone attack in Somalia. The report had been confirmed by the Interior ministry that later clarified that Kuno is still alive and is on the loose. The error is regretted.
