The department of home affairs is investigating reports that the slain head of al-Qaeda in East Africa had a South African passport in his possession.
“The department … has noted media reports that the suspected head of al-Qaeda in East Africa, Fazul Abdullah Muhammad, who was killed in Mogadishu at the weekend, allegedly had in his possession a South African passport,” said spokesperson Manusha Pillai.
“Should the results of our investigation into the matter prove to be true, those implicated will be brought to book and will have to face disciplinary measures,” she said.
According to a report quoting a Somali source close to the investigation, Muhammad was in possession of a South African passport in the name of Daniel Robinson. It gave his year of birth as 1971.
Muhammad, wanted for blowing up the US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, died in a shoot-out in the Somali capital on Tuesday night last week, it was reported at the weekend.
Most wanted
The 38-year-old is thought to have planned the massive truck bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam that killed 224 people in 1998 and had a $5-million bounty on his head, making him Africa’s most wanted man.
“We have confirmed by DNA tests carried out with our partners that it definitely was Fazul Abdullah,” said an official at Somali’s National Security Agency.
A commander of Somalia’s rebel al-Shabab movement said earlier this week that Fazul was one of two men killed near Mogadishu.
“He is not dead as thousands like him are still in the fight against the enemy of Allah,” the commander added.
Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG) said the men were killed at a roadblock on Tuesday night after taking a wrong turn. The two men were driving in a pick-up truck full of medicine, laptops and cellphones.
Wrong turn
They appeared to have taken a wrong turn while trying to reach a al-Shabab position and ended up in an area under TFG control.
A Somali source close to the investigation said the man identified as Fazul was in possession of a South African passport in the name of Daniel Robinson which gave his date of birth as 1971.
The passport, issued April 13 2009, indicated that its bearer left South Africa for Tanzania on March 19 and was granted a visa there. The Tanzanian visa was the only one in the passport.
The man was also in possession of $40Â 000 in cash, the same Somali source said. He appeared to have come from Lower Juba in southern Somalia where he was heading a group of foreign fighters under the name of “Abu-Abdirahman the Canadian”.
The second man killed was a known Kenyan extremist Mohammed Dere, a Nairobi-based security source said, adding that the Kenyan intelligence services were checking the DNA of the two men.
Contrary to normal practice, when such incidents occur, the bodies of the two men were picked up by the Somali intelligence services and given to US officials for identification.
Photos taken shortly after the incident show a bloodied corpse lying on its back, with the face turned up and a pick-up truck with an armoured windscreen peppered with bullet holes.
The face bears a resemblance to the “Wanted” photos put out by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Incognito
Fluent in several languages and using a variety of pseudonyms, Muhammad moved freely round the whole region, while still keeping a low profile.
He had been fighting for several years in the ranks of al-Shabab and was in charge of foreign fighters and volunteers.
Fazul joined al-Qaeda in 1991 and was believed to be behind the August 1998 embassy bombings, the worst attack by al-Qaeda until the September 2001 attacks on the United States.
East Africa leader
Starting in 2002, he was put in charge of the group’s operations throughout East Africa. That same year, he planned anti-Israeli attacks in Mombasa that killed 15 people.
He survived a US raid in January 2007 that left dozens of people dead at Ras Kamboni in southern Somalia.
Officials in Fazul’s native Comoros expressed “relief” at the news.
“Today I am somewhat relieved even if one must not rejoice over a death,” Interior Minister Ahamada Abdallah said in Moroni, the Indian Ocean archipelago’s capital.
“Fazul’s involvement in the Nairobi and Dar es Salaam bombings did a lot of damage to our country’s reputation.” — AFP