Al-Shabab in Malindi: Terrorist Gunned Down by Police was the Killer of FBI Agent

Special for Africa ExPress
Simon Bouvier
Nairobi, 14^th February  2014
A ballistic analysis has confirmed suspected al-Shabab militant Ali Mohamed Delawa, now dead, murdered FBI counter-terrorism informant Ahmed Abdalla Backshuweini on January 28^th. Delawa was killed on February 1^st after being chased through Malindi by police.

According to Police, Delawa was part of a special Al-Qaeda cell tasked with carrying out hits on counter-terrorism agents, and his name was on a list of most wanted criminals.

As Africa ExPress reported at the time of his death, Mr. Backshuweini was a veteran counter-terrorism operative who tracked such important terror figures as Fazul Abdullah Mohamed, Al-Qaeda’s former leader in East Africa.

Malindi District Criminal Investigations Officer John Ndungu revealed a report from a government ballistics expert had linked the American-made M16 assault rifle recovered on Delawa’s body to Mr. Backshuweini’s murder and several other attacks.

The rifle is thought to have been taken from US Special Forces during their 1993 intervention in the Somali civil war.

Two of Delawa’s co-conspirators are still on the run after fleeing the scene of Mr.Backshuweini’s murder on a motorbike. Police in Kenya are still on high alert after intelligence reports assessing a terror attack could be imminent surfaced earlier in February.

Simon Bouvier
simoncolasbouvier@gmail.com