AL SHABAB LEADER LIVED IN UK

Al-Shabaab leader Ikrima 'lived in UK for a year'

Abdukadir Mohammed Abdukadir, alias Ikrima, who was targeted in an abortive US raid in Somalia, is believed to have spent time in Britain after a failed asylum request in Norway

Members of Somalia's Al Shabaab militant group parade during a demonstration to announce their integration with al Qaeda, in Elasha, south of the capital Mogadishu, last year Photo: AP

By Mike Pflanz, Nairobi

6:25PM BST 25 Oct 2013

A key al-Shabaab commander, who was the target of a failed raid by US special forces in Somalia, spent time in Britain after failing to win asylum in Norway, it emerged on Friday.

Abdukadir Mohammed Abdukadir, also known as Ikrima, has been named by Kenyan intelligence as the alleged leader of three terrorist plots, including one involving Samantha Lewthwaite, the British widow of a July 7 suicide bomber.

The pair allegedly planned to bomb “multiple” targets in Kenya, including hotels, shopping centres, United Nations offices and an army barracks. They would have acted with at least four accomplices, including another Briton, Jermaine Grant.

Ikrima, a Kenyan Somali, grew up in the Eastleigh area of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. He travelled to Norway in 2004 and requested political asylum, before moving to Britain in 2007 when that application was rejected. He is believed to have spent about a year in the UK, living in London for part of that time, friends told the BBC. He then travelled back to Somalia in late 2007 or early 2008 where he joined a jihadist militia that later became al-Shabaab.

Security sources said they were trying to establish whether Ikrima had been in contact with known radical Islamists during his time in Britain.

The Norwegian authorities are also checking if he knew Hassan Abdi Dhuhulow, a Norwegian citizen of Somali origin, who is believed to have led the gang which attacked Westgate shopping centre in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, last month.
Ikrima, who is believed to be in his early 30s, was the target of a raid by the US Navy Seals on the Somali town of Barawe on Oct 5. The soldiers attacked the house where he was believed to be staying, but they withdrew after encountering fierce resistance without killing or arresting their quarry.
Ikrima is understood to be a senior commander of al-Shabaab’s “secret service” unit, known as “the Amniyat”, which has been named in connection with the Westgate siege, which left 67 dead, including six Britons.
Whether he played any part in that attack is unclear. He is known to be related to another al-Qaeda operative, Musa Dheere, who was killed at a roadblock in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, in 2011 alongside Fazul Abdullah, the suspected mastermind of the bombings of the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in 1998.
A leaked Kenyan intelligence report claimed that Ikrima planned in April to attack Mandera airport in north-eastern Kenya, which is used by the armed forces as a base for operations against al-Shabaab in Somalia. But this plot was foiled successfully.
Kenyan soldiers are fighting in southern Somalia along with troops from Uganda, Burundi and Sierra Leone. This African force, totalling 18,000 personnel, has managed to expel al-Shabaab from both Mogadishu and Kismayo, a crucial port.
Today, the group no longer controls any large population centres, although it still holds sway over a large area of southern Somalia.
Al-Shabaab announced its merger with al-Qaeda last year and its fighters have adopted the goals of international jihad partly to disguise their reverses in Somalia. Kenya is regarded as a key target because of its decision to send soldiers to fight al-Shabaab in its heartland. African governments want Western funding to deploy another 6,000 troops in Somalia