Crackdown: Uganda busts suspected al Shabaab cell

Police in Kampala seize explosives, suicide vests

KAMPALA: Police in the Ugandan capital of Kampala seized “substantial amounts of explosives” and suicide vests in raids on a suspected al Shabaab cell that was planning an imminent attack, a Ugandan official said in an interview on Sunday.

Last Monday, Fuad Mohamed Khalaf Shongole, a senior al Shabaab official, said he would target Americans in New York and Washington and “capture Kenya and Uganda.”

Police arrested 19 people in the operation on Saturday, and Information Minister Rose Namayanja said Uganda is urging the public to “remain vigilant” as it continues its investigation into the planned attack. “The operation is still going on,” Namayanja said.

“We just want to ensure that we exhaust all the leads so that there are no more terrorist cells.” Namayanja said the government would not give further details about who was detained or where.

Nor would it discuss the circumstances of the arrests, to avoid jeopardising the investigation.

She said the government believes the cell had links to the Somalian Islamic group al Shabaab but did not provide evidence linking the two.

The discovery of the alleged cell came as Kenya prepared to mark the first anniversary since al Shabaab gunmen killed 67 people in an attack on Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall.

The militant Islamists have threatened more attacks since the killing of their leader Ahmed Godane in a U.S.

Ugandan authorities say they have increased security at hotels and other key sites, including Entebbe International Airport, since making the arrests.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 15^th, 2014.