POLICE NAME ALLEGED AL-SHABAAB COMMANDERS

Mr Mohamed Kuno (right) and Mr Ahmed Iman Ali. 

By FRED MUKINDA

The public has been asked to come forward with information on two Kenyans the police say are Al-Shabaab commanders.

A dispatch from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations identified Mohamed Kuno, who also uses the aliases Sheikh Mahamad, Dulyadin and Gamadheere, and Ahmed Iman Ali, alias Abu Zinira, as the suspects.

Kuno, the police said, is Al-Shabaab's commander in the Juba region and is responsible for attacks in northern Kenya. He claimed responsibility for the recent Mandera attack.

Iman is said to head the video production unit of Al-Shabaab. He posted a video on the Internet praising the Mandera attack, saying it was carried out to avenge the killings of Muslim preachers at the Coast.

The dispatch, signed by Deputy Director of Criminal Investigations Gideon Kamilu, appealed to the public to provide information that would help police arrest the suspects.

“Anybody who spots or has information on their whereabouts should pass it to the nearest police station or administration unit for action. We are grateful for supporting us in this fight,” he said.

Kuno was a madrassa teacher in Garissa before joining the militants in Somalia after 2000.

Iman graduated as an engineer from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology before taking a job at an oil company.

He was also the secretary of the Riyadha mosque committee Pumwani, Nairobi, before leaving for Somalia to join Al-Shabaab in 2009.

Iman is believed to have been a student of radical preacher Aboud Rogo, who was killed in 2012.

CREDIT SOURCE: DAILY NATION