NIGERIA: Samantha Lewthwaite, white widow, may be the terror mastermind behind a horrific attack in Abuja, capital of Nigeria yesterday which left 80 dead and hundreds wounded, according to Daily Star, UK based newspaper. Lewthwaite, also known as Sherafiyah Lewthwaite, is the widow of 7/7 suicide bomber Germaine Lindsay and one of the world’s most wanted terrorism suspects.
On Monday, a huge explosion ripped through a busy bus station in the capital, Abuja, during the peak rush-hour. The enormous blast destroyed 40 buses and left a sickening trail of death and destruction as fuel tanks on nearby vehicles also exploded amid the heat of the blast.
According to Daily Star, while nobody has officially claimed responsibility, security sources fear the bombing may have been a revenge attack for the death of al-Shabaab terror chief Makaburi, aka Sheikh Abubakar Shariff Ahmed – Lewthwaite’s mentor – just two weeks ago.
Lewthwaite is an alleged member of the Somali radical Islamic militant group Al-Shabaab. She has been accused of orchestrating grenade attacks at non-Muslim places of worship, and is believed to have been behind an attack on those watching football in a bar in Mombasa during Euro 2012. The infamous widow of 7/7 bomber Germaine Lindsay, is on the run in Africa with three children.
Bomb-Explosion in Abuja Motor Park
The daughter of a British Army soldier, she is already on Interpol’s Most Wanted list in connection with seven murders as well as the siege of the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya in September last year which left 67 dead and nearly 200 injured. She was known to be ‘extremely close’ to Makaburi, who coordinated the Westgate atrocity.
According to Daily Star, a senior security source said agents across Africa were on high alert after the assassination of Makaburi – reportedly by the UK and US funded Kenyan Anti-Terror Police Unit (ATPU) 14 days ago. The source said: “Makaburi was always believed to be at the very top of the hierarchy of terror organisation al-Shabaab. “Intelligence suggests he introduced Samantha Lewthwaite to many influential figures within the al-Shabaab network. He guided her on her path to Jihad. “His murder was seen as yet another act of war.”
The source added that Lewthwaite and her associates “wanted revenge”. Lewthwaite, 30, is believed to be in Nigeria, Kenya or Somalia, where Islamist terror networks are closely linked, making it far easier for her to evade detection than in Europe.
The world’s most wanted woman was reportedly caught at a checkpoint in Nigeria just six months ago – but managed to bribe her way to freedom. It is thought she commands enormous loyalty and power as a white convert, female jihadist, having proved her worth in previous attacks. As both a mother and widow of a 7/7 bomber, she also provides the groups with invaluable propaganda.
Local police have linked yesterday's bombing to the Boko Haram terrorist network, which has been threatening to attack the Nigerian capital. Last year Boko Haram boasted of’merging’ with both al-Shabaab AND Al-Qaeda to form a pan-African terror super-network. Together, the groups control a vast, arid area known as ‘Sahelistan’ – thousands of miles of sub-Saharan land which stretches from Senegal in west Africa to Somalia in the east. This ‘ungovernable’ terrain has become a sanctuary for Islamist militants plotting atrocities in Africa and across the world.
# Scene of the blast in Abuja
The commander of the U.S. military’s Africa Command General Carter Ham said the groups now share money, explosives and even train together. He said: “Each of those three organisations is by itself a dangerous and worrisome threat. “What really concerns me is that they are coordinating and synchronising their efforts. “That is a real problem for us and for African security in general.”
The White Widow, who has been on the run since January 2012, got her grim nickname after husband Germaine Lindsay blew up a London Tube train in the 7/7 bombings in 2005. Fifty six people were killed and more than 700 injured. Interpol has issued a rare ‘Red Notice’ for the White Widow’s arrest.
Lewthwaite, from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, is believed to have widely used the alias ‘Natalie Webb’ and travelled on a forged South African passport. She is now officially being hunted by 190 countries and is one of the most wanted international fugitives in the world.
Police seized her laptop in 2011 and found detailed plans of how to build bombs and evidence she was planning multiple terrorist attacks both in Africa and the West. She has also been linked to grenade attacks at non-Muslim places of worship in Africa and a terrorist attack on western football fans watching Euro 2012 in the Jericho bar in Mombasa.
Head of Interpol Ronald Noble said: “There is a global ‘tripwire’ for this fugitive. “All 190 member countries are aware of the danger posed by this woman, not just across the region but also worldwide.”
Source: NIGCOMMWEEK
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