Mombasa-Kenya-(Puntland post)-Coast police have foiled two New Year’s Eve terror attacks targeting a Kilifi county police station and a popular nightclub in Mombasa.
Had they succeeded, the suspected al Shabaab terrorists would have caused numerous casualties and maximum damage, police said.
They did not identify the nightspot or the police station.
A wanted terror suspect was arrested on Tuesday.
Forty-three 43 suspected Mombasa Republican Council members were arrested on Thursday at Tiwi, Kwale county commissioner Evans Achoki said.
Intelligence reports said the nightclub and police station attacks had been planned by al Shabaab militants who sneaked out of Boni Forest on Tuesday night, evading a major security operation to flush them out.
Regional police commandant Francis Wanjohi said the attacks were to be launched when thousands of revellers were ushering in 2016 at churches, clubs and other entertainment venues.
“We share a lot of information with different agencies, including spymasters. That’s why we managed to foil the two intended attacks planned to do maximum damage,” Wanjohi said.
All police and security agencies are working around the clock throughout the Coast region, he said.
More Boni Forest has been the site of a massive operation to drive out more than 300 al Shabaab militants based in the vast forest.
On Tuesday, the General Service Unit mounted a roadblock around Kona ya Musa at Ukunda where they nabbed Rashid Mwamtaka, who is on the police wanted list. He was arrested while driving his Toyota Probox along the busy Lunga Lunga-Likoni highway.
“Mwamtaka is among other dangerous suspects we are seeking to hand them over to the Anti-Terror Police Unit,” one officer, who did not wish to be named, told the Star.
“We have many terror suspects whose names have not been made public. Once we arrest them, they are handed over to the ATPU for action,” he said.
Heavily armed GSU officers stopped Mwamtaka at the roadblock, checked his driving licence to confirm his identity and arrested him.
Kwale commissioner Achoki confirmed the arrest and said Mwamtaka is being interrogated.
He said the 43 suspected MRC members were holding an illegal meeting at a homestead and were booked at Kwale police station. They are to be taken to court on Monday.
He revealed police disrupted another meeting of the outlawed MRC at Mwananyamala in Lunga Lunga, Kwale county, on Thursday morning.
Police said the MRC members were raising funds to bail out three of their fellows who were arrested and charged with being members of an illegal group three weeks ago.