Omar Awadh Omar
By Steven Candia
and agencies
THE second-in-command of the East Africa al-Qaeda terrorist cell, Omar Awadh Omar, is among the twin bomb suspects charged and remanded to Luzira Prisons, according to new intelligence information.
Awadh was charged in court last week alongside a Muslim human rights activist, Al Amin Kimathi, for the murder of 79 people in the July 11 twin bomb blasts in Kampala.
It emerged yesterday that Awadh, a Kenyan citizen, is high in the hierarchy of the terror cell and is second to the regions al-Qaeda boss Harun Fazul, according to The Nairobi Star, a Kenyan newspaper.
Details filtering in indicate that Awadh coordinated the horrid July attacks at the Ethiopian Village Restaurant in Kabalagala and at the Kyadondo Rugby Club in Lugogo, which also left more than 50 people injured.
Both Awadh and Al Amin were charged in court after being arrested in a city hotel on September 15. They were arrested alongside Mbugua Mureithi, a Kenyan defence lawyer, who was later released and flown back to Kenya.
Kenyan intelligence and police sources point at Awadh, also known as Abu Sahal, as the top logistician of the East African al-Qaeda cell and the al-Shabaab terrorists in Somalia.
After the twin attacks in Kampala, the two were reportedly planning a similar attack in Kenya, sources said.
Sources intimated that the planning of the Kampala attack dates back to 2008. This followed the killing by the US of Saleh Nabhan, the then number two to Fazul. The network then started the mission, dispatching several key players to Somalia for training and indoctrination.
Regional intelligence sources say Awadh, a second-hand car dealer, recruits youth from Kenya and neighbouring countries into the terror cells, which have spread their activities to Uganda and Tanzania.
The details lend credence to remarks by Police chief Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura in August that the cell was operating bases in the country and recruiting from countries in the region.
Sources added that Awadh facilitates the travel and training of the recruits in Somalia, usually coordinated by a cell in Nairobi.
According to the network structure, Omar Badrudin (head of al-Qaeda intelligence) and Bilal el Berjawi report directly to Fazul. Below Omar is Hussein Hassan Agade, Jabir, Mohammed Ali and Hahim Mohammed Suleiman, alias Abu Zeinab (the head of the Nairobi cell).
About 34 suspects, including Hassan Agade, have been charged with the killings. The arrest of Awadh and Agade means that Uganda now has two top commanders of the terror cells of al-Shabaab and al-Qaeda.
