Experts doubt Somali group behind attack

A group of Somali Muslim radicals named by US officials as top suspect in the Kenya attacks are unlikely culprits as they have never shown m...

A group of Somali Muslim radicals named by US officials as top suspect in the Kenya attacks are unlikely culprits as they have never shown much interest in Osama bin Laden8217;s global anti-Western campaign, experts say.

The group, Al-itihad Al-islamiya, has a record of violence in Somalia and neighbouring Ethiopia, not elsewhere.

Although links between Itihad members and Al Qaeda do exist, no Somali has ever been reported in the top or even middle ranks of bin Laden8217;s network, they say.

Itihad8217;s overriding aim is to establish an Islamic state in Somalia, an ambition floundering in the mire of Somalia8217;s complicated and bloody clan politics.

8216;8216;In the pantheon of worldwide Islamic radicalism, Al-Itihadis small potatoes unimportant,8217;8217; US academic Ken Menkhaus wrote of Itihad.

8216;8216;The group has throughout the 1990s been mainly focussed on a domestic, not a global, agenda. In local Somali politics it has been regularly outflanked by savvy clan and militia leaders.8217;8217;

Such information about Itihad, well known to the US State Department, did not prevent US officials in Washington naming Itihad as the top suspect in Thursday8217;s twin attacks on Israeli tourists that killed 16 people, including three attackers. Kenyan police said on Sunday they had not at present found any link between Itihad and four Somalis and six Pakistanis they are holding in connection with the attacks.

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Yahya and other leading experts wonder why Washington rushed to name Itihad so soon and recall that similar warnings about Itihad emanated from Washington after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

To date, no evidence has been found in Somalia of links to the attacks on the US despite a large US backed intelligence gathering operation, diplomats say. Somalia is a chaotic, failed state. Kenya8217;s declining economy and infrastructure and corrupt officials provide a congenial environment for people with mischief in mind. Somalis travel often across Kenyan borders, doing legitimate business, smuggling or fleeing mayhem at home to start afresh as one of Kenya8217;s tens of thousands of Somali refugees.

The Somalis being held were rumoured to have entered using a well-worn smuggling route. Kenya also has a small community of Kenyan ethnic Somalis into which Somalis can melt. 8212; Reuters

Police find fragments of Mombasa bomb

MOMBASA: Kenyan police said on Sunday they had found two fragments of the bomb which killed 16 people near Mombasa last week. 8216;8216;These are parts of a gas cylinder. Of course, it is part of the bomb,8217;8217; Kenyan investigator Charles Juma said. The two pieces were found in the charred remains of the hotel. One of the pieces had four numbers on it which could be used to identify the cylinder, police said. The fragments were taken away by Israeli bomb experts, who are in Kenya working with local investigators. 8212; Reuters