Refugee hosted Yumbis attackers: Report
KDF soldiers outside the entrance to Garissa University College on April 3, 2015, after a terrorist attack in which 148 people were killed. All administration and support staff at the institution have been directed to report back to work by July 1, 2015. FILE PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE |
What you need to know:
- Intelligence report says camps have been infiltrated by Al-Shabaab militants.
- Source says woman even fed terrorists a day to last week’s ambush.
A woman registered as a refugee in Kenya is believed to have hosted Al-Shabaab militants who attacked police officers, killing one, at Yumbis in Garissa last week, according to an intelligence report.
Security sources who have read the report told the Sunday Nation that the Somali terrorist group has recruited a big number of refugees in Kenya to provide cover for its operations.
“She is from Hagadera refugee camp where she is registered. She hosted and fed the Yumbis attackers the night before the attack and has provided shelter for others before,” said the sources.
The report, which has been shared among security agencies, also names three others, all from Hagadera.
The three, according to the report, helped to co-ordinate terror attacks in Mandera last year, in which 58 people were killed. These refugees, the report says, are also being used to recruit youths into Al-Shabaab.
None of the refugees has been arrested.
'WHITE PROBOX'
Kenya has previously threatened to close down the Dadaab refugee camp which shelters more than 350,000 refugees, most of them Somalis, following the attack in Garissa University in April that left 148 people, mostly students, dead.
But the country walked back from the threat after receiving condemnation from human rights groups.
The intelligence report also identified a Mr Abdikadir alias Chairman, whom it said “owns a white Probox which he uses to facilitate movement of new recruits and weapons within Dadaab refugee camp in Fafi sub-county in Garissa.”
It adds: “Others are Ibare Haret and Abdiweli, who run a pharmacy at the camp and offer medication and supplies to Al-Shabaab operatives.”
The report warns security officers that all refugee camps have been infiltrated by Al-Shabaab and directs that besides arresting those named, they should heighten surveillance.
“They have infiltrated refugee camps and are taking advantage of international laws that govern refugee status. They have deep connections within legally established medicine and food distribution networks. Therefore international aid to refugees easily finds its way to Al-Shabaab. Medical supplies are diverted to Al-Shabaab, and the injured fighters are well treated. Sympathisers move freely because they are duly registered.”
The report also notes that the nature of refugee camps provides a perfect cover for Shabaab agents and that arms smuggling is rampant there.
It says: “Informal settlements in the camps provide good storage for weapons. Any security operation in the area is met with arguments that the rights of refugees are being violated.”
