Sudan denies involvement of its nationals in Kenya’s Westgate attack
October 9, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese army denied the participation of a Sudanese national in the recent terrorist attack on the Westgate mall in the Kenyan capital Nairobi where 67 people were killed by the Somali militants of Al-Shabaab group.
Al-Sudani was identified following the release of video footage showing four armed men in what looks like a store room.
However, in a statement released on Wednesday, the spokesperson of the Sudanese army, Colonel Al-Sawarmi Khaled Sa’ad, said that “Abu Baara Al-Sudani is of Somali origin and has nothing to do with the State of Sudan”.
“Al-Sudani is just his name”, he added.
Al-Shabaab, which had controlled important parts of Somalia before the intervention of African forces, said they carried out their attack in retaliation of the Kenyan participation in the African Union operation in their country.
Since, different countries taking part in the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) took security measures to prevent similar attack by the Somali group which reportedly is now led by a radical leadership.
The AMISOM, which is mandated to support transitional governmental structures, implement a national security plan, is composed of troops from Burundi, Cameroon, Djibouti, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Uganda. Sudan declined to join this force.
(ST)