How Fazul Met His Death

Nairobi Star (Nairobi)

Francis Mureithi

27 June 2011

Details have emerged about how the man who masterminded the August 7, 1998 Nairobi bomb blast Fazul Abdullah Mohammed was killed by Somali government forces.

Fazul, who was killed two weeks ago in Mogadishu, was found with among other items 14 Islamic books, two of which were authored by killed Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden. He was armed with a Russian made Umarex Steel Storm submachine gun at the time of his death.

This is the latest in line of high capacity, rapid-fire BB guns selling in the market. The Steel Storm gun is used to guard VIPs and has been a common feature of the security guards of embattled Libyan leader Muamar Gadaffi.

Fazul was further armed with an Australian sniper riffle which Somali security have since sent to the United States for analysis and identification. The double cabin Toyota Hilux Fazul was being driven in at the time of his death also has multiple bullet holes. The government has decided to keep all this items in a museum.

Fazul was travelling on a forged South African passport giving his name as Robinson Daniel born on August 9, 1971. The passport indicated that it was issued on April 13, 2009 and was to expire on April 12, 2019. It indicated he had entered Somalia from Tanzania.

Ironically, Fazul was also carrying a photocopy of his original Comoros passport giving his names as Fazul Abdallar Abdulahi Mohammed born in 1972. Also found were one of his passport size photo and two others belonging to his daughter 10 year-old daughter.

At the time of his death, Fazul was also having 10 rubber stamps ordinarily found with immigration officials at airports, equipment he may have been using to forge visas and passports.

These items are now with the SNSA in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, but are set to be moved to a special museum once it is constructed. Also retrieved from Fazul was a hi-tech wrist watch in military colours equipped with a compass.

He was also carrying the map of Mogadishu, a knife, a letter written by a senior Imam and Islamic scholar sending a condolence message to Al-Shabaab and Al-Qaeda followers after the death of Osama. He was also traveling with a document indicating Al-Shabaab collects US$ 17 million (Sh1.5 billion) every year.

The document, seen by the Star at SNSA offices in Mogadishu, identifies 10 revenue collection points each with an annual target. “Fazul was a very dangerous man, he was a threat to us in Somalia, to our neighbours and to the whole world,” said TFG president Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed during an interview with the Star at State House Mogadishu. “His death is very welcome to us and to the whole world. His death will bring a lot of good things especially security,” added the President.

Fazul was killed at a roadblock manned by TFG forces less than 10 kms from Mogadishu. This is after he missed his way and failed to take a crucial left turn that would have led him to Al-Shabaab controlled Deynile district in Mogadishu.

Intelligence sources said his body was first flown to Kenya for DNA testing before it was returned to Mogadishu for burial. All the items recovered are presently in the hands of the SNSA. “To us, Fazul was more dangerous than Osama Bin laden because he knew East Africa region very well and this was making his capture very difficult. His killing was a big win not only for us, but also for Kenya and others,” said a senior security officer in Mogadishu. “The items he was carrying clearly show that he was a fully fledged immigration office but now a mobile one. He had immigration stamps for more than 10 countries and he could stamp his documents from any point and show that he is from a certain country,” said another senior security officer.

“That is why we want to put all these things together so that anyone who wants to see them can do so including the future generation, this man was a trouble,” added the officer.

At the point of his killing, Fazul is said to have been carrying $500,000 (Sh430 million) in cash but which is yet to be traced. The government has been forced to pay the TFG officers who killed Fazul to recover some of the the items he was carrying.

The Star has also learned that failure by Fazul to turn up at the right time at a road junction where Al-Shabaab forces were waiting for him to show him directions led Fazul landing in the hands of TFG forces that killed him. A team of heavily-armed Al-Shabaab forces had been assigned to wait for Fazul at a junction a few kilometres from Mogadishu town and lead him to an Al-Shabaab base in Deynile district.

Fazul had informed Al-Shabaab commanders he was to arrive at 7pm. A squad was dispatched to provide back up and ensure he safely arrives at their base. But after several hours of waiting without seeing him or receiving word, the squad left the junction.

With no one to show them directions as it had initially been agreed, and apparently not well versed with the directions and coupled with the darkness, Fazul and his team drove right ahead towards Mogadishu city and landing at a roadblock manned by TRG.

He was flagged down for a normal security check up. Fazul, after noticing that was not his squad, opened fire prompting the solders to fire back. He was killed on the spot.

Security sources say he was using a hi-tech gun fitted with a silencer. He was killed alongside the Kenyan Somali driver. The other two occupants of the vehicle escaped. “When he was killed, because it was at night, no one touched the body or the car because they did not know who he was and they also feared there could be a bomb. So it was not until morning after checking his documents that it was realized it was Fazul,” said a senior security officer.

It is not clear who exactly the other two, a woman and a man were, but military sources have said they escaped on foot with the man having sustained serious gunshot wounds.

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