Rogo's son is trained Al-Shabaab fighter, police say

Friday
November 16,  2012

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Khubedi Rogo, 17, (left) among suspects that appeared before a Mombasa court on November 15, 2012. Photo/LABAN WALLOGA  NATION MEDIA GROUP

By GALGALO BOCHA
Posted  Friday, November 16  2012 at  10:42

In Summary

• Police say Khubedi Rogo, 17, returned to Kenya from Somalia where he was with his father

The son of the late Muslim cleric Sheikh Aboud Rogo recently returned from Somalia where he trained as an Al-Shabaab fighter, police say.

Khubedi Rogo, 17, is said to have recently returned to Kenya from Somalia where he was with his father. Read (Rogo's children arrested in raid)

“What we know is that this man was from Somalia together with his father. They trained together but his father left him there and returned to recruit more young men," said Boniface Mwaniki, Head of Anti-Terrorism Police Unit.

According to police, Khubedi and his friend joined Al-Shabaab in 2006. His friend also happens to be the son of a terror suspect being held in connection with two attacks in Kampala, Uganda in 2010, which killed 74 people while watching a World Cup football match.

Khubedi and his friend were withdrawn from their respective schools in Mombasa and Nairobi and taken to Somalia to join Al-Shabaab.

Other security sources say that Khubedi, whom they suspect to be well trained in paramilitary as well as bomb assembling skills returned to Kenya after the killing of his father by unknown persons near Jomo Kenyatta public beach in Mombasa four months ago.

“He arrived in the country on August with an intention to revenge his father’s killing, which the family still believes was executed by security agencies,” said the source.

Security agencies are reportedly in pursuit of more returnees who fled Al-Shabaab after the capture of Kismayu by the Kenya Defence Force (KDF) and Somalia troops.

Police believe that a sizeable number of youth from Mombasa, South Coast and other parts of the country were among foreigners secretly enlisted into Al-Shabaab.