Kenyan police captured two suspected aides to Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, a Comoran al Qaeda operative wanted over the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, a senior officer said Sunday. Mohammed himself narrowly escaped Saturday's raid in the coastal town of Malindi, the anti-terrorism police officer told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"We carried out a raid on Saturday night and managed to arrest two suspects," he said, adding that police seized two of the suspects' passports and a laptop.
"We were tipped off that Fazul was around for medical checks on his kidney," he said. "A major operation is under way. We are concentrating on Malindi and the southern coast... We are zeroing in on him. It's just a matter of time. "The two suspects are being quizzed and will be airlifted to the anti-terrorism police unit in Nairobi for further questioning... We are scrutinising a laptop we seized and two passports we recovered."
Mohammed is one of Africa's most wanted men and features high on the US wanted list for his alleged role in the embassy bombings. Kenyan police are hot on his trail again as the region prepares to mark the 10th anniversary of the bombings, which left more than 220 people dead and thousands of wounded in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam on August 7, 1998.
Mohammed, who was born in the Indian Ocean archipelago of the Comoros, is also suspected of involvement in twin anti-Israeli attacks in the Kenyan resort of Mombasa in 2002.