Nairobi | Radical Somali Shebab Islamists kidnapped and beheaded the head of a village area in northeastern Kenya, located about twenty kilometers from the Somali border, police sources and the Shebabs said on Wednesday.
Omar Adan Buul, head of Gumarey, in Wajir County, was taken Friday by suspected Islamists who had previously invaded the area and gathered the inhabitants to “teach them”, according to the Kenyan press.
“The leader who had disappeared was found dead. His head was abandoned on the road, but the rest of his body has not been found, ”a Wajir police officer told AFP, who requested anonymity.
“We recovered the head and took it to the morgue (…) we are looking for the rest of the body, hoping that it was not taken to the other side” of the border with Somalia, said indicated another officer who went to the scene.
Police have not made any official comment about this kidnapping and murder.
The Shebabs, affiliated with Al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the “execution” of Omar Adan Buul via their Shahada news agency.
“The fighters of the Shebab movement executed Omar Adan, the head of Gumarey (…) after having taken him prisoner” during the attack and the takeover of a Kenyan police station – which did not not been confirmed – writes Shahada.
The Shebabs are fighting the fragile Somali government, supported by an African Union (AU) force, Amisom, in which Kenya participates in particular.
Once masters of Mogadishu, the Shebabs were driven out in 2011 by Amisom, but still control large rural areas of Somalia, from where they regularly launch attacks on Amisom bases, bombings in Mogadishu or raids in north-eastern Kenya.
They have hit Kenya hard on several occasions in recent years, including several spectacular attacks as far as Nairobi, which have left a total of nearly 300 dead.
Somalia has plunged into chaos since the fall of President Siad Barré’s military rule in 1991, followed by a war of clan leaders and the rise of radical Islamists.