This archive report was first published on 30 August 2019.
On August 30, 2019, police in Kwale County engaged in a gun battle with Mohamed Rashid Mwatsumiro, a 30-year-old suspected terrorist and Al-Shabaab member, at his home in Ngomeni. The shootout left a corporal injured and Mwatsumiro dead.
According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, Mwatsumiro was a key figure in the 10-member Likoni terror cell and had been radicalizing youth in Shika Adabu Likoni since 2017. He was training recruits at Shimba Hills and facilitating their journey to Somalia in 2018.
Inspector-General of Police Hillary Mutyambai stated that Mwatsumiro had escaped their dragnet in March but was eventually tracked down and killed. The operation was part of the ongoing efforts to flush out terror operatives and gangs holding the Coast region hostage.
Modi's gang, which operates in Mombasa's Likoni and Kwale's Matuga and Ngombeni, is accused of being behind the recent spate of killings and robberies in the Coast. The gang is linked to the killing of two police officers in September 2017, the beheading of Sheikh Ali Fumbwe and Hamisi Mwadondo in August 2019, and the killing and burning of a Kenya Defense Forces navy officer's in Likoni last month.
