Uncle of British Islamic State white widow terrorist says she is probably dead
The uncle of the UK’s most-wanted terrorism suspects has spoken out, saying he believes she is likely dead.
Samantha Lewthwaite, otherwise known as the ‘White Widow’ was married to one of the 7/7 suicide bombers and has been linked with a string of terror attacks in Africa in the 2010s.
Originally from Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, officials are said to believe she is now being hidden at a remote jihadi-sympathising stronghold in Somalia or Tanzania.
Her uncle Nigel Lewthwaite has reportedly revealed the last time he saw her was the night of her school prom at Aylesbury station – but he thinks she won’t be heard from again.
The brother of her dad Andrew told the Mirror: ‘As far as I know my brother’s not heard anything from her since way back.
‘I don’t know how long it’s been. She’s probably dead, but they’re not saying anything.’
Mr Lewthwaite said the family has not been given any update from security services.
He added: ‘It’s hard. It’s been 10 years, probably longer than that, but what do we do?’
There have allegedly been sightings of Lewthwaite in Yemen, Syria, and even on Ukraine’s border with Russia over the years.
Reports last month claimed the mum-of-four had fled to Yemen after splitting with her fourth husband, a Somalia warlord known as ‘Sheikh Hassan’.
But one expert says it would be ‘difficult for her blend in and maintain some level of concealment for a long period’.
Omar Mahmood, The Crisis Group’s senior analyst for Somalia, said he doesn’t believe she is now an active jihadist for Somalia-based militant group al-Shabaab.
He has seen ‘nothing over the past few years that would attest to her involvement, or her being around much’.
Meanwhile, King’s College London radicalisation expert Dr Gina Vale argues she would be being utilised if she was involved in attacks.
The facts that she is a Western Muslim convert, white and a woman make her ‘a very lucrative propaganda tool, which hasn’t been exploited’, she said.
Lewthwaite was pregnant with their second child with Germaine Lindsay when he got onto the Underground near King’s Cross station and killed himself as well as 26 people in the 7/7 suicide bombings in 2005.
She initially denied knowing anything about her husband’s plans and condemned his behaviour, but then went into hiding.
It’s believed she married a Muslim man in Morocco and had a third child in 2009.
She is rumoured to have used a fake passport with the name Natalie Webb and built up supporters for the terrorist group al-Shabaab in Pakistan, Johannesbury, Somalia and the UK.
The fugitive is accused of being involved in several al-Shabaab attacks, including in Mombasa in 2012 and Nairobi in 2013.
Source: Metro
