Kenyan woman held over links with ISIS Branch in Somalia

NAIROBI, Kenya - Police in Kenya have been allowed by a lower court to continue holding a woman who is accused of being a member of IS-Somalia, a terror group mostly domiciled in the Puntland state of Somalia, and which has also been trying to dethrone Al-Shabaab, another violent extremist group.

The Anti-Terrorism Police Unit [ATPU] will hold Zuena Nakhumicha Machabe for at least 14 days as police gather crucial evidence that will be used for prosecution. He is accused of facilitation and recruitment of the militants for the last two years besides acting as the group's advisor.

Machabe is said to have been a top banker in Kenya before allegedly crossing over into the terrorism world in 2021. The mother of three worked with tier two banks before resigning sometime in mid-2021 and allegedly joining a terrorist group affiliated with Islamic State or Daesh, Puntland in Somalia as a logistician.

Kenya has been fighting terrorism in recent years following surging cases of Al-Shabaab and IS-Somalia recruitment targeting youths and even professionals. IS-Somalia however, does not have a record of waging attacks in Kenya, but cases of Al-Shabaab raids are rampant along the borders.

For the last 12 years, Kenya Defence Forces [KDF] have been in Somalia fighting the militants, helping the country to stabilize in the process. In due course, KDF will be taking part in the second phase of operations against the militants in Jubaland and Southwest states.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud recently asked Kenya to contribute more soldiers who will take part in the operations. Once they arrive in Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said, the troops will work under the command of the Somali National Army [SNA] for three months.

Somalia has been fighting for stabilization in the costly fight against the militants who still control large swathes of rural central and southern regions. The militants have, however, lost substantive grounds to the SNA, US Africa Command, and the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia [ATMIS].

GAROWE ONLINE