Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Kenya's police spokesman confirmed the arrests but said he would issue a comprehensive statement later in the day.
But sources within the police force said the five suspects were arrested late Tuesday after the country's security forces intensified patrols in search of terror suspects who were freed from custody last weekend.
The police sources said the suspects were picked up from the common frontier and were being interrogated over the raid at a police station on Saturday night when militiamen rescued nine suspects, including three held for terrorism activities.
Locals said the militants who launched the raid in Dadajabula belonged to Somalia's al Shabaab group.
But the police were yet to establish if the suspects were part of members of an Islamist group from Somalia that raided Dadajabula police post on Saturday night and freed the nine suspects.
Police sources said one suspect freed in the raid could be linked to the November 2002 Kikambala bombing in which 12 people died, the authorities have disclosed.
It is believed that the man, who wore a veil and was armed with powerful satellite phones, and two accomplices came from Nairobi or Mombasa.
The five suspects were being held to assist detectives with investigations.
"We believe they have information that can help us in the investigations. We are following very crucial leads and we hope to find them and recover a police vehicle and rifles that were taken away," the source said.
At least five rifles were stolen by the militiamen who escaped in a police Land Rover during the raid. They also wounded two policemen, one of them seriously.
Security along the border with Somalia has long been a concern for the Kenyan police. There are worries that a new wave of refugees caused by intensified fighting in Somalia in recent months could allow militants into the country.
In June 2007, two Kenyan police officers were abducted and killed along the border with Somalia.
Source: Xinhua, June 04, 2008