By David Ochami, The Standard

Two Kenyan commanders in Somalia’s Al-Shabaab and a British jihadist Thomas Evans, also known as Abdul Hakim – who joined the terrorists after converting to Islam at the age of 19 – are among 11 militants killed by Kenya Defence Forces ( KDF).

Evans was allowed to travel abroad by British authorities who ignored warnings from his mother after she expressed her concern at his behaviour.

Among the Kenyan Al-Shabaab commanders killed is Luqman Osman Issa alias Shirwa from Mombasa, who led the attacks on Mpeketoni in Lamu County a year ago in which 65 people were massacred, KDF spokesman Colonel David Obonyo said yesterday.

The other Kenyan commander killed is Said Abdalla Hemed alias Said Hamza, also from Mombasa.

Luqman was an ethnic Gunya tribesman with roots in the Lamu archipelago and many of his siblings were implicated in violent jihad in Kenya and overseas.

His family in Mombasa’s Bondeni has established jihadist credentials, according to Kenya’s intelligence, which told The Standard that his younger brother Ibrahim Osman Issa was killed in Afghanistan in 2001 fighting for the Taliban.

Kikambala bombing

Another brother Issa Osman Issa co-planned the 2002 terrorist bombing of an Israel hotel in Kikambala, Kilifi. Luqman’s mother lives in Mombasa.

The late Ibrahim left Mombasa for Afghanistan in 1999 and is believed to have inspired Luqman’s conversion to violent extremism. According to a government report seen by The Standard, Luqman’s other brother Issa Osman Issa “was involved in the Kikambala bombing in 2002.”

“This is a big victory for us and also a major setback for Al-Shabaab because now there is no mainstream commander in Lamu,” Obonyo told Reuters, adding Shirwa’s body was in a morgue in Mpeketoni.

Obonyo said another man apparently of Caucasian or Arab origin was among the dead, while the others killed appeared to be from the region.

Britain, berated by the Jubilee government for issuing travel warnings in the recent past to its citizens against visiting Kenya’s coast, said it could not confirm whether Evans had been killed.

Read more: Kenyan and Briton behind terror attacks killed in Sunday raid

Source:The Standard