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The man who masterminded the 1998 terrorist attacks on US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam is believed to have taken over the leadership of al-Shabaab in war-torn Somalia, Kenyan counter-terrorism officials say.
Ahmed Al Fazultook charge of the ragtag army after the dramatic killing of Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, who previously led the group that has been a constant headache to Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government and US anti-terror campaign.
Fazul is believed to have been hiding in East Africa and reportedly escaped a police dragnet at the Kenyan coast in August 2008 and sneaked into Somalia.
In Pictures: Al Shabaab
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Counter-terrorism officials in Nairobi, who cannot be revealed without compromising their operations, say Fazul is believed to have lately left Tanzania for Somalia to head al-Shabaab. The heavily armed group, which has pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda, wants to topple Somalia’s UN-backed government and impose its own strict version of Sharia law.
In Video: Al Qaeda First
It controls much of the south and parts of Mogadishu, and courts run by its leadership have ordered executions, floggings and amputations.
