Police have identified 25 year old Mahir Khalid Riziki as the suicide bomber who blew himself up at Riverside complex during Tuesday’s terrorist attack, revealing new details on the terrorist.
Unknown details emerge about the Riverside suicide bomber Mahir Khalid Riziki
What we know so far
Photos of two of the attackers during the attack on Dusit hotel
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Riziki had been on the police radar for long with security agencies posting his photos as a wanted man in 2014 after being linked to a series of terrorist activities.
Reports attributed to the police reveal that while attending prayers at the Musa Mosque, he met his mentor Ramadhan Hamisi Kufungwa who radicalized him and recruited to Alshabaab.
As security agencies focused their attention on Musa Mosque in Mombasa that had been associated with radicalisation, recruitment for Al-Shabaab and religious violence, Riziki fled to Tanzania.
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He would then relocate to Somalia where he joined the terror group on the ground and received training before being dispatched for his evil mission.
Mahir Khalid Riziki
Pulse Live Kenya
Suicide bomber kept in touch with family,sneaked back into Kenya
During his stay in Somalia, he kept in touch with his family and confirmed to them in 2015 that he was in Somalia where he had joined the extremist group.
Most recently, he reportedly contacted his wife Suhaila Mwalim Bakari in November and December 2018 to find out about her status and that of his family. Suhaila never reported about her husband to the police.
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The Standard quoted security sources revealing that the suicide bomber sneaked into the country on January 13 through Elwak in Mandera County then to Takaba.
From there he boarded a Moyale Raha bus in Marsabit town to Nairobi and met Ali Salim Gichunge who led the attack at Muchatha.
One of the Al Shabaab assailants taken out at the Dusit complex (Twitter)
Pulse Live Kenya
Seasoned terrorist on the run
According to police records, Riziki is a seasoned terrorist and was on the run as his close accomplices were felled after resisting arrest.
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He was a member of an Alshabaab terror cell led by Ismael Mohamed Shosi alias Ismael Mmanga which was tasked with killing security personell.
Among the crimes linked to the cell is the killing of a police officer at Royal Court Hotel in October 2014.
Police would trail the group, eventually raiding Shosi’s hideout in Mandoni and killing him after he resisted arrest.
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