Turkey special forces have captured the older sister of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State who blasted himself after an American military raid at his hide outs in northwestern Syria last week.
Senior Turkish official confirmed to AFP that Rasmiya Awad, 65, was nabbed and detained in a Turkish-controlled region of northern Syria, Azaz. She was arrested alongside her husband and family members.
“The capture of such a close relative and one said to be affiliated with the Islamic State movement will yield a trove of intelligence information,” the Turkish official told AFP.
In the years since he declared a caliphate in 2014, Mr. al-Baghdadi had become intensely security conscious. He trusted only his family and a close circle of associates, according to women who were held by him as sex slaves, as well as several senior aides interviewed after their capture in prison in Iraq.
Abu Ali al-Basri, Iraq’s director general of intelligence, also suggested in an interview last year that Mr. al-Baghdadi was leaning heavily on direct family members, including his brothers and the husbands of his sisters.
According to Intelligence information, the slained ISIS chief had five brothers and several sisters. The family were close to him something that has made it remain unclear how many are still alive.
“Gold mine’ might be overstating the issue, but depending on how much time she spent around Baghdadi, it could be significant. Not only can she help piece together important facts about his life and history, but she could also have an insider’s knowledge of how ISIS was structured or some insight into the group’s decision-making.” Colin P. Clarke, a senior fellow at the Soufan Center, a research organization in New York, cautioned against expecting to learn too much from Ms. Awad’s capture.
In yet another intensified war against terrorist and their sympathizers, US Federal Bureau of Investigations has arrested three Kenyans in the United States over their links and support to ISIS.
According to official statements send to the media, the victims Muse Abdikadir Muse, 23, his brother Mohamud Abdikadir Muse, 20, and another relative, 26-year-old Mohamed Salat Haji, are US citizens by registration and Kenyan citizens by birth. They have been charged with conspiring to provide material support to a terrorist organisation.
FBI agents arrested Muse Muse at Gerald R. Ford Airport in Grand Rapids on Monday, when he was about to take a series of flights that would have eventually landed him in Mogadishu, Somalia, according to a federal complaint. Mohamud Muse and Haji were arrested hours later.
The three defendants had all pledged allegiance to ISIS through videos they recorded themselves, according to a statement by the Department of Justice seen by NBC News.
“Haji and Mohamud Muse had aided in the purchase of the ticket and drove Muse Muse to the Grand Rapids airport, each knowing the true purpose of the travel was for Muse Muse to join and fight for ISIS,” federal authorities said.
According to stiff US immigration and anti-terrorism rules, the Kenyan suspects all face up to 20 years in jail if convicted by the federal courts and department of Justice. The three arrested terrorists have been denied rights to foreign lawyers.
“Muse Muse and Haji allegedly discussed with each other their desire to join ISIS, to kill non-believers, and even to potentially use a car for a martyrdom operation to run down non-believers here in the United States if they could not travel overseas to fight for ISIS,” according to prosecutors.
The investigation began in April 2016 when agents found pro-ISIS writings on Mohamud Muse’s Facebook page and they were later contacted by an FBI agent, posing as an ISIS recruiter, according to the federal complaint. Muse Muse’s airfare was $1,799 and the family asked for the phony ISIS recruiter to contribute $1,200, officials said. The FBI said it came through with the $1,200, to help buy the ticket
Every child growing up wants to be a doctor, lawyer or an engineer. These professions have been for a long time been regarded as lucrative, but medicine and law have turned into conmen’s den. Doctors despite being well paid are making headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Coercing with pharmaceutical companies, giving prescriptions of drugs not stocked in their respective hospitals and even writing medical reports to questionable individuals just to make quick bucks unlawfully. Med reps from leading pharmaceutical companies to throng doctor’s plaza to market their products alongside people (mostly of Somalia origin) lining to buy medical reports.
Early this year Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPPDU) through its Secretary General Oluga Ouma raised a red flag over doctors referring their patients to India despite treatments being available locally.
In what seems like a cartel made of 15 companies belonging to influential politicians, doctors and even the patients, Kenya is said to be losing 10 billion shillings which can be used to improve infrastructures in medical facilities across the country.
Lobby claimed that over 880 doctors in public and private practice risk losing their licenses if investigations confirm that they intentionally misadvise patients to seek treatment abroad in exchange for kickbacks.
The findings of the investigations have never been made public, and the rogue doctors are still on, fleecing patients millions of their shillings and draining the country’s hard currency reserves.
Busted fake doctor Mugo Wairimu
Doctors are reported to pocket up to Shs. 200,000 for every referral; mainly of kidney, cancer and cosmetic. Health Principal Secretary Dr Nicholas Muraguri noted that Kenyatta National Hospital for instance conducts at least 30 kidney transplants every month and some of Kenya’s private hospitals have the capacity to carry out heart transplants. Meaning that these cases can be treated locally. Only very delicate conditions that local experts can not treat should warrant overseas care.
This fight is made complicated by the fact that top government officials ignore the official policy in favour of local healthcare, opting instead for treatment in Europe and US even for a slight cough. Doctors don’t end their illegal trade of unwarranted medical referrals here; Kenya Insights can authoritatively report that Kenyan doctors provide dubious medical reasons to many peoples of Somali origin seeking travel to Europe or the United States.
It’s no secret that terror activities conducted by ‘Islamic groups’ have proven bigger threats to every nation globally. Groups such as Al Shabaab, Boko Haram, ISIS, Al Qaeda and many more hide behind unsuspicious events to carry out their attacks. Kenya and East Africa, for instance, has suffered numerous attacks due its porous borders, corrupt immigration officials and now doctors are the new entrants into the list.
ISIS militia group
Kenya is struggling in its fight to end terrorism and has for a long time asked for support from other countries to help in the support by sharing intelligence and collaborative reaction. Rogue doctors who are working to make Kenya a terror hub belong nowhere but jail. Foreigners in perfect health without genuine reasons buy medical reports at 2000 dollars.
Al Shabaab is known to have changed its fighting tactic from conventional to asymmetric, a hit and run method that can be best carried out when unethical practices such as these are not controlled.
Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, a toothless bulldog with an incredible bark, is doing its best, sleeping with its head buried deep in the sands. Scandals touching on the ‘big fish’ are certified to go scot free.
Terrorism is the greatest threat Kenya is facing at the moment, and Kenya has been accused of sitting on intelligence and in the process suffering severe terror attacks that have had the negative impact on the economy. One of the biggest foreign exchange earners, tourism, is down on its knees and struggling to pick up. Will the country sit back and watch rent seeking doctors aid the movement of questionable characters or crack the whip on the rogue professionals?
