Kenya arrests 2 Germans suspected of al-Shabaab link

Kenyan authorities have detained 2 German nationals who they accuse of being members of the al-Qaeda-linked group, al-Shabaab, which has been blamed for a series of attacks on Kenyan soil, police said Tuesday.

“We arrested the two foreigners following information that they had travelled to Somalia and joined the militant group,” John Mulaulu, Kenya’s acting head of Anti Terrorism Police Unit, told reporters by telephone

“They were arrested on August 29 within the Kenyan capital, Nairobi when they arrived from Somalia,” he said, adding that both men were German.

The police were questioning the 2 men over their alleged links to al-Shabaab, which has carried out a series of attacks on Kenya, including an assault by gunmen on Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall last September, which left 67 dead.

Al-Shabaab has threatened attacks in east Africa as punishment for a missile strike last week that killed the group’s leader Ahmed Godane, who publicly claimed responsibility for the Westgate assault.

Mulaulu said the two Germans had yet to be charged, adding they had valid passports but not visas.

A German official confirmed the two German nationals were being held, but declined to give details. “We are in contact with the authorities,” the official said.

Source: Reuters