A leader of terror group al Shabab, who has been linked to “White Widow” Samantha Lewthwaite, had previously lived in London, it emerged today.
An investigation by the BBC has found that Abdikadir Mohammed — who is also known as Ikrimah — came to Britain early in 2007 after being refused asylum in Norway.
He spent around a year here, living in London for at least part of his stay, before moving back to Somalia to begin masterminding terror attacks and the recruitment of foreign fighters.
He is suspected of involvement in organising the attack on Kenya’s Westgate shopping centre, in which 67 people died, and was targeted earlier this month by US special forces in a failed raid on a hideout in Somalia.
Commandos from Seal Team Six — the same unit that killed Osama bin Laden — carried out the seaborne mission, arriving before dawn in the Somali town of Barawe in an attempt to snatch Ikrimah.
The raid, which US officials said was linked to the Westgate attack, was aborted amid heavy resistance from al Shabab fighters, allowing Ikrimah to remain at liberty.
He is regarded as a key link between al Shabab and the Yemeni-based terror group al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Kenyan intelligence documents have also linked him to Lewthwaite, the widow of July 7 London bomber Jermaine Lindsay, who is now subject of a worldwide Interpol arrest warrant and similarly regarded as a key figure in the east African terrorist network.
He spent around a year here, living in London for at least part of his stay, before moving back to Somalia to begin masterminding terror attacks and the recruitment of foreign fighters.
He is suspected of involvement in organising the attack on Kenya’s Westgate shopping centre, in which 67 people died, and was targeted earlier this month by US special forces in a failed raid on a hideout in Somalia.
Commandos from Seal Team Six — the same unit that killed Osama bin Laden — carried out the seaborne mission, arriving before dawn in the Somali town of Barawe in an attempt to snatch Ikrimah.
The raid, which US officials said was linked to the Westgate attack, was aborted amid heavy resistance from al Shabab fighters, allowing Ikrimah to remain at liberty.
He is regarded as a key link between al Shabab and the Yemeni-based terror group al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Kenyan intelligence documents have also linked him to Lewthwaite, the widow of July 7 London bomber Jermaine Lindsay, who is now subject of a worldwide Interpol arrest warrant and similarly regarded as a key figure in the east African terrorist network.
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