Kenyan police authorities detained 17 al-Shabaab terror suspects

Police in Kenya are detaining 17 suspects arrested over suspected links with Somalia-based terror group Al-Shabaab, sources said.

The suspects were ordered to be detained by Kwale County court after they were nabbed on Sunday in a two-bedroom house where police said they found counterfeit goods, Kenya’s leading Daily Nation reported on Tuesday.

Police suspect the youths were on their way to Somalia to join the Al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group.

Police officer John Kemboi told the newspaper that they suspected the youths, aged between 18 and 27, were new recruits.

“We suspect the youth were being organised to join terror groups because it is strange to find the group of youth in a house. It seems they were up to something,” he said.

But the suspects denied the allegations, counter-accusing the police of harassment and confiscating their mobile phones.

This latest event comes barely two weeks after Al-Shabaab attacked a Nairobi hotel and killed 21 persons.

Over the last ten years, terror attacks have been very frequent in Kenya and claimed by Al-Shabaab which has its base in neighbouring Somalia.

Source: African Daily Voice