Standard Digital News - Kenya : Police arrest Iranian-trained suspects allegedly planning attack in Kenya

Police arrest Iranian-trained suspects allegedly planning attack in Kenya By Standard Reporter Updated Saturday, November 28th 2015 at 17:11 GMT +3 Share this story: Share on Facebook Tweet Google Plus Linkedin 86 Comments Suspects Abubakar Sadiq Louw (left) and Yassin Sambai Juma  have admitted to conspiring to mount terror attacks against western targets in Kenya. Nairobi: Police have arrested two Kenyans suspected to have been recruited into an Iranian terror ring to carry terror strikes targeting both locals and foreigners in the country. Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet said the two, Abubakar Sadiq Louw (69) and Yassin Sambai Juma (25), were instructed to recruit more Kenyans into the ring. Police are interrogating the suspects with an aim of squeezing more information from them. Abubakar is a senior figure in Nairobi Shiite community. According to police sources, he was arrested on October 29 after a long intensive police investigation. He admitted recruiting young Kenyans to spy and mount terror attacks in Nairobi. He was working on behalf of the Qods Force, the clandestine overseas military wing of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which carries out the terror activities worldwide. Juma on the other hand is one of the students recruited by Sadiq. During the probe, Sadiq also divulged to the investigators that he arranged for Juma to travel to Iran and introduced him to the Qods Force contact, nicknamed "Parsa".  “Parsa" subsequently gave Juma a set of tasks and Western targets for future terror attacks in Nairobi.  Police arrested Juma on the November 19, upon his returned to Nairobi after having undertaken some military training in Iraq. Sadiq's and Juma's arrest came after months of secret intensive work by Kenyan Police, in cooperation with the other law enforcement agencies in Africa. The Iranian Qods Force has been trying to operate in Kenya for years to recruit young Muslims and train them to smuggle explosives in the country. However they are encountering rigorous efforts by Kenya Police and law enforcement agencies to foil terror activity in the country. See also: Pope: Trafficking in natural resources fuels 'instability', 'terrorism' The police are working closely with the local Shiite Muslim community to determine threats and locate anyone who may be working for the Iranian government against Kenyan interests. The last attempted attack by the Qods force in Kenya was foiled in January 2012, when two Iranian operatives were arrested with 15kg explosives. The two men, Ahmad Abolfathi Mohammad and Sayed Mansour Mousavi, were tried and convicted of committing acts intended to cause serious harm, including planning attacks in Kenya.

Read more at: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2000183874/police-arrest-iranian-trained-suspects-allegedly-planning-attack-in-kenya

Border dispute and security tension between #Kenya and #Ethiopia : three police officers killed | Diplomat News Network

Border dispute and security tension between #Kenya and #Ethiopia : three police officers killed | Diplomat News Network: "BORDER DISPUTE AND SECURITY TENSION BETWEEN #KENYA AND #ETHIOPIA : THREE POLICE OFFICERS KILLED
BY EDITOR IN WORLD NEWS NOV 21ST, 2015 0 COMMENTS 555 VIEWS


Ethiopian army is currently the fifth largest force in Africa after the collapse of the Somali central government in 1991, where Algeria, Nigeria, Egypt and South Africa are more heavily armed forces in the continent .
Nairobi,Kenya ( Standardmedia + DIPLOMAT.SO) – As security and media sources – The Kenya Defence Force (KDF) has moved its armoured vehicles and tanks from the Odha Military Camp in Moyale to Sololo following an invasion by Ethiopian forces who killed three police officers.

The development last evening follows a fierce gun battle earlier in the day between Kenya police and Ethiopian forces at Anona and parts of Sololo Township in Kenyan territory. Marsabit County Police Commander Bernard Kogo said three Kenyan security officers were killed but declined to reveal the casualty on the Ethiopian side. “We lost three officers at the border (Sololo) and I do not know what happened on their (Ethiopian) side,” said Mr Kogo.

On Thursday, a senior provincial administrator identified a senior chief who was gunned down by allegedly rebels from the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF).

Ethiopia is fighting the rag-tag OLF rebels in Ethiopia and parts of Marsabit County that it claims hosts their rivals.

OLF is opposed to Ethiopia’s ruling regime and claims it has marginalised the majority of Oromia-speaking people who include the Borana, also found in Kenya.

At dawn Friday, Ethiopian forces in full military attire invaded villages in Sololo District where locals led by area MP Roba Duba said at least 24 Kenyans were abducted.

“Eleven people were rounded up and taken away by Ethiopian soldiers. Before that they beat up everyone in their sight with gun butts, kicks and blows,’’ said Adan Jirma, a resident of Sololo South.

At around midday Friday, Ethiopians soldiers made a second invasion in the two centres while backed by armoured vehicles. This prompted administration and regular police, backed by Kenya police reservists, to engage the foreign army in a shootout.

As the gun battle between the two sides raged up to about 4pm Friday, KDF’s army multi-unit detachment from Odha in Moyale, about 100km away, rolled its armoured cars and tanks that were deployed at the border, stretching a distance of about 15km.

Sololo OCPD Benjamin Mwanzia said the military had been deployed to guard against further incursion but declined to give details.

National Hospital Insurance Fund Chairman Mohamud Ali called on the Kenya Government to protest what he called frequent invasion by Ethiopian forces into Kenyan territory. “We are a sovereign state and this (invasion) is bad because Ethiopia is considered a friendly neighbour. It is high time our government sends a strong signal to them,” said Ali. Mid this year, Ethiopian forces invaded Kenyan territory on three occasions — at Illeret, Sololo and Moyale.

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Obama speech on shared values concludes Kenya visit - BBC News

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US President Barack Obama is concluding his visit to Kenya with a televised address at a sports stadium in the capital, Nairobi.

The BBC's Karen Allen in Nairobi says he is expected to underscore the shared values of the two countries but also touch on human rights.

On Saturday, President Obama discussed security issues with his Kenyan counterpart, Uhuru Kenyatta.

Later on Sunday, President Obama will fly on to Ethiopia.

The Kasarani stadium, where the US leader will make his speech, was last year used as a controversial detention camp for hundreds of Somalis during an operation against the Islamist group al-Shabab.

Our correspondent says Mr Obama is expected to warn that such tactics risk alienating communities and stoking radicalism.

On Saturday Mr Obama acknowledged the role the Kenyan government had played in the fight against militant groups such as al-Shabab.

The jihadist group has carried out a deadly campaign in Kenya including the 2013 attack on Nairobi's Westgate shopping centre and an attack in April in Garissa that killed nearly 150 people.

Security has been tight for Mr Obama's two-day visit to Kenya.

The trip, which began on Friday, is his first visit as president to the land where his father was born.

President Obama and President Kenyatta differed sharply on the issue of gay rights

In Ethiopia, he will be the first US president to visit the country. He will also become the first US leader to address the 54-member African Union (AU) on Tuesday.

AU Commission chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma described the trip to Ethiopia as a "historic visit" that would "broaden and deepen the relationship between the AU and the US".

On Saturday, Mr Obama praised Africa's economic and business potential in a speech at a business summit.

He also visited a memorial for those killed in the 1998 US embassy bombing in Nairobi.

After holding bilateral talks, President Obama and President Kenyatta said they were "united against terrorism".

But they differed sharply in their positions on gay rights. While Mr Obama spoke strongly against discrimination, Mr Kenyatta said Kenya did not share the same values.

Auma steals the show as Obama lands

President Kenyatta in Ethiopia for conference on financing women and chi...

Ethiopia troops reportedly raid Kenya police station

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Ethiopian officials were not immediately available for comment

About 50 Ethiopian soldiers have allegedly crossed into Kenya where they took over a police station for several hours, a local Kenyan official said Tuesday.

“They entered Kenya in many army vehicles; they were all armed,” Ali Iyeese, an official in Kenya’s Marsabit County, told Anadolu Agency.

“They completely overran the police station in North Horr,” he said.

According to Iyeese, Ethiopian soldiers stayed for about two hours, surveying the area and taking photos.

The Illeret police station in Kenya’s North Horr Marsabit County is less than 20 kilometers from the Ethiopia border.

The Kenyan army, for its part, has remained tightlipped about the reported incursion, despite several attempts by Anadolu Agency to obtain comment.

Ethiopian officials, meanwhile, were not immediately available to comment on the allegation.

Kenya : Eritrea denies barring President Uhuru Kenyatta's flight -Standard Digital News

Eritrea denies barring President Uhuru Kenyatta's flight By Nyambega Gisesa Updated Thursday, April 30th 2015 at 09:18 GMT +3 Share this story: President Uhuru Kenyatta Eritrea has denied reports that it played a role in events leading to President Uhuru Kenyatta cutting short his trip to the United States midair last Thursday night. The Republic of Eritrea's Ambassador Beyene Russom said his country had given the Kenya government the requisite clearance for the President's jet to use its airspace on his way to Dubai, where he was scheduled to board a commercial flight to Los Angeles. "The Government of Kenya sought permission to use the Eritrean airspace and it was granted and all the relevant communication was forwarded to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and aviation authorities," Russom told The Standard yesterday. But the envoy clarified that the President's Fokker 77 military aircraft never accessed Eritrean airspace. "They had the permission to fly through Eritrea. We gave all the necessary assistance to the Kenyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the aviation authorities," Russom explained. He was responding to reports that Eritrea ordered the Kenyan presidential jet to return after it was detected or risk being shot down because Kenyan media and politicians had linked the country with supporting Al Shabaab. Russom denied the claims of any dispute that could have prevented the presidential jet from accessing Eritrea airspace. He further added that media reports in Kenya of Eritrea providing safe stay and passage for Al Shabaab and other terrorists were not true and had no connection to Uhuru's flight. See also: Kenya is the best place to do business "There is a lot of misrepresentation being published in various sections of the media in Kenya. I am even being told that we chased away the presidential jet from our airspace because our country had been mentioned in connection to assisting the Al Shabaab. This is not true," he said. State House cited heightened military activity in Yemen for the return of President Kenyatta's jet last Thursday at 11.42p.m., about four hours after departure from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. Russom said Eritrea had continued to offer support to Kenya in efforts to secure the country. "I am getting so many calls from other diplomats and friends from around the world who think that we apparently ordered the presidential jet out of our airspace in retaliation for the connection to Al Shabaab in local press," he said. The Eritrean government has since written to the Iran Embassy to seek a clarification on the same. The source of the information was said to be an Iranian diplomat. "They have denied providing any such information. We have further sent a complaint to the diplomatic community over the same," he added. In July 2012, the US government imposed sanctions on six people, including a senior military officer and the country's spy chief, Col Tewolde Habte Negash, over claims that they had provided weapons and financial support to Al Shabaab.

Read more at: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000160458&story_title=eritrea-denies-barring-uhuru-s-flight