Fazul was planning attack on Uganda, says army

Fazul

New information emerging out of Somalia indicates that documents found in the car of the East African Al-Qaeda leader, killed in Mogadishu two weeks ago reveal that he was planning to attack Kampala and Bujumbura.

The commander of the Ugandan peacekeeping contingent in Somalia, Col. Paul Lokech told journalists from Uganda, Burundi and Kenya currently on a visit in Mogadisgu that they had recovered papers from the vehicle Abdullah Fazul was driving with details of his planned attacks.

“According to the recovered documents, he had other plans of attacking Kampala and Bujumbura. But it’s not going to be safe anymore for the terrorists,” Col. Lokech said. Fazul was killed by the Somali Transitional Federal government forces after refusing to stop at a security check point.

Foreign fighters
Col. Lokech said Fazul was travelling to Abdi Aziz district in Mogadishu where foreign fighters have established a new base after they were dislodged from their old camp at the Interior ministry headquarters now occupied by Ugandan forces.
“He had come to brief them about the change of command after the death of Osama Bin Laden,” he said.

A Ugandan army officer, Lt. Col. Patrick Sihibwa, was killed by al-Shabaab near this old base as the militants were trying to recapture the strategic place taken from them by the Ugandan forces on June 4.

The African Union peacekeepers have encircled Bakara Market, the largest market in Mogadishu, which is under the control of the al-Shabaab militants.

“We don’t want to shell the market because we know the value of this market to the people of Somalia. But we will squeeze these terrorists to know that they have no option but to get out,” Lt. Col. Anthony Mbusi Lukwago, who is commanding the Hawal wadag sector, said.

By Risdel Kasasira