There was no intelligence on the impending Pangani bomb blast, an issues that raises serious questions about how the attack was planned and who gave terrorists information on a possible target that could be hit at short notice?.
When police flagged down a Toyota NZE salon vehicle driving on the wrong lane, they were not aware they were stopping terrorists already on a suicide mission.
Intelligence gathered confirms the terrorists were very young men of Somali origin.
Warnings of impending attacks came a day after Al-Shabaab terrorists released a video that insisted that there were hundreds of young men and women already agitating for suicide terror missions like the Westgate attack. https://medalisecurity.com/terrorists-issue-new-threats-to-east-african-nations/
The warning may have been taken lightly since there targets would have been likely other upscale shopping areas or transport hubs not a mall in Eastleigh where a live TV event was scheduled.
Jeff Koinange Live Talk Show and Security Chiefs, Who Tipped the Terrorists?
There weren’t any media reports both online or in mainstream media about the live talk show and the guests at the Eastleigh mall.
It was precautionary to avoid media hype hence the secrecy hence the intelligence on such a live talk show may have come from insiders from either the KTN or the police force.
The hurried planning and execution of the plan and the subsequent detonation of the bomb outside the gate of the Pangani police station makes Pangani Bomb blast a suspicious attack.
Intelligence Analysis on the Pangani Blast; There was no Terrorist Planning Cycle
David James, Strategic Intelligence Director of Intelligence Analysis confirms a bias of suspicion by pointing out lack of terrorist planning cycle.
Terrorists are never late for a mission since what they do first is survey the target after identifying it. This takes days or even months. Secondly, they deploy watchers and actual agents to carry out the attack on the target.
Before the actual attack, terrorists will conduct dry runs to ensure their mission will succeed. Dry runs are used to assess security situations, public awareness, police presence, and police and emergency services responses.
On the Pangani Blast, there is no trace of this kind of planning. In fact, the other vehicle found abandoned had wires and other electronic materials used to assemble the bomb that went off in the Pangani Bomb Blast.
“This was an operation planned and executed in haste, there was no planning”
“When you look at the direction from which the vehicle was coming from, they were indeed running late. Also, the bomb assembly point is somewhere from the direction the vehicle is coming from. This points only to one fact, their safe-house is within the area from which the vehicle was coming from, particularly Manjengo!”
As such, this begs the question, who tipped the terrorists that the internal security top brass will be at Eastleigh Mall for an interview?
The information came only from an insider from the following quarters;
- Security officers attached to Cabinet Secretary Ole Lenku or Police Inspector General David Kimaiyo. This is very unlikely since these officers are supposed to remain in certain formations throughout the interview hence will be victims of the attack.
- KTN Staff privy to the live show. An employee of KTN may be a sympathizer and may have tipped terrorists about the scheduled event.
- Senior Staff at the Eastleigh mall privy to the KTN even may have been informed by event planners or observed security agents milling in the mall to secure it before the security chiefs came.
Either someone at KTN or a staff at Eastleigh Mall was the terrorists mole. He was not aware of the event until very late which explains why the terrorists going to execute the mission were running late and made attempts to use wrong lanes.
Upon sensing they could be debriefed and their phone call logs traced to identify who was giving them orders, the terrorists may have been instructed to abort the mission by detonating the bomb to end it all in a suicide like mission.
These questions must be answered and these moles identified and arrested. This will help security departments to gather intelligence and arrest terror cells and their safe-houses.
Someone may have tipped them, most definitely.
Someone may have tipped them, most definitely.