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Police question spouse of key suspect in grenade attacks

Xinhua
Saturday, March 17, 2012

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Kenya’s anti-terrorism police on Friday questioned the wife of one of the suspect in connection with last Saturday’s grenade attacks at the main terminus in Nairobi, their lawyer said.

Lawyer Chaacha Mwita said Husna Ali Shaaban, the wife of Hussein Nderitu Abbas alias Mohamed, was arrested by the country’s anti-terror police early on Friday for unknown reasons.

"I don’t know why they are holding her for now because Nderitu has been in Nyeri (in central Kenya) for the last three weeks," Mwita said by telephone on Friday.

The latest development came after police investigations freed Sylvester Opiyo also known as Musa Osodo and three minors unconditionally and ordered to return to the anti-terrorism police offices on Friday for further questioning.

The suspects who were freed on Monday night were interrogated again on Tuesday by the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) to enable the authorities unravel the cause of the Saturday attacks which has so far claimed nine lives and injured more than 60 others.

The three minors are students who were helping Opiyo offload his belongings from the vehicle since he was moving into a new house a few hours after the blast.

Mwita said Nderitu’s wife was picked up early on Friday for interrogation, adding that it was difficult to understand why she was being interrogated because her husband has been in central Kenya and was not around when the incident took place.

But the police said investigations into the four grenades which were hurled in the middle of commuters and bystanders at the Country Bus Station was underway until those culpable are arraigned in court.

"We are still investigating the blast and will not rest until we arrest those behind it," one of the police officers told Xinhua by telephone on Friday.

Late last year, the police circulated Nderitu’s picture alongside that of Opiyo and ordered them to appear to the nearest police station for questioning in connection with a spate of crime which engulfed the country in December 2011.

Police said then that both suspects have cases pending in courts having been arrested in March and August 2011.

The two surrendered to police on December 24, 2011 after police released their photos to the public terming them wanted persons.

They were held and later released without charge following intervention from their lawyer.

Since then, there has been heightened security around the country with security agencies at an unprecedented state of alert amid reports that Al-Shabaab have planned attacks against Kenya and U.S. interests in the country.

The Kenya Defense Forces and Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government troops have also intensified their operations in southern Somalia.

The authorities had also called on Kenyans to be on high alert and partner with the security enforcers by reporting any suspicious people to the police.

Kenyan officials blame the Al-Shabaab insurgents or their sympathizers for the bombings and shootings, although armed bandits also operate in the border areas.