Samantha Lewthwaite, also
known as the White Widow, has been linked to the horrific attack in Abuja on
Monday, which left 74 dead and hundreds wounded, according to Daily Star, a
UK-based newspaper. Lewthwaite, also known as Sherafiyah Lewthwaite, is the widow
of 7/7 suicide bomber Germaine Lindsay and one of the world's most wanted
terrorism suspects.
On Monday, a huge
explosion ripped through a busy bus station in the capital, Abuja, during the
peak rush hour.
The enormous blast
destroyed 40 buses and left a sickening trail of death and destruction as fuel
tanks on nearby vehicles also exploded amid the heat of the blast.
According to Daily Star,
while nobody has officially claimed responsibility, security sources fear the
bombing may have been a revenge attack for the death of al-Shabaab terror chief
Makaburi, aka Sheikh Abubakar Shariff Ahmed - Lewthwaite's mentor - just two
weeks ago.
Lewthwaite is an alleged
member of the Somali radical Islamic militant group Al-Shabaab.
She has been accused of
orchestrating grenade attacks at non-Muslim places of worship, and is believed
to have been behind an attack on those watching football in a bar in Mombasa
during Euro 2012.
The infamous widow of 7/7
bomber, Lindsay, is on the run in Africa with three children.
The daughter of a British
Army soldier, she is already on Interpol's Most Wanted list in connection with
seven murders as well as the siege of the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi,
Kenya, in September last year which left 67 dead and nearly 200 injured.
She was known to be
“extremely close” to Makaburi, who coordinated the Westgate atrocity.
According to Daily Star,
a senior security source said agents across Africa were on high alert after the
assassination of Makaburi - reportedly by the UK and US-funded Kenyan
Anti-Terror Police Unit (ATPU) 14 days ago.
The source said:
“Makaburi was always believed to be at the very top of the hierarchy of terror
organisation al-Shabaab.
“Intelligence suggests he
introduced Samantha Lewthwaite to many influential figures within the
al-Shabaab network. He guided her on her path to Jihad.
“His murder was seen as
yet another act of war.”
The source added that
Lewthwaite and her associates “wanted revenge”.
Lewthwaite, 30, is
believed to be in Nigeria, Kenya or Somalia, where Islamist terror networks are
closely linked, making it far easier for her to evade detection than in Europe.
The world’s most wanted
woman was reportedly caught at a checkpoint in Nigeria just six months ago -
but managed to bribe her way to freedom.
It is thought she
commands enormous loyalty and power as a white convert, female jihadist, having
proved her worth in previous attacks.
As both a mother and
widow of a 7/7 bomber, she also provides the groups with invaluable propaganda.
Security forces have
linked Monday’s bombing to the Boko Haram terrorist network. Last year, Boko
Haram boasted of “merging” with both al-Shabaab and Al-Qaeda to form a
pan-African terror super-network. Together, the groups control a vast, arid
area known as “Sahelistan” - thousands of miles of sub-Saharan land which
stretches from Senegal in West Africa to Somalia in the east.
This “ungovernable”
terrain has become a sanctuary for Islamist militants plotting atrocities in
Africa and across the world. The commander of the U.S. military’s Africa
Command General Carter Ham said the groups now share money, explosives and even
train together.
He said: “Each of those
three organisations is by itself a dangerous and worrisome threat.
“What really concerns me
is that they are coordinating and synchronising their efforts.
“That is a real problem
for us and for African security in general.”
The White Widow, who has
been on the run since January 2012, got her grim nickname after husband Lindsay
blew up a London Tube train in the 7/7 bombings in 2005. Fifty-six people were
killed and more than 700 injured. Interpol has issued a rare 'Red Notice' for
the White Widow's arrest.
Lewthwaite, from
Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, is believed to have widely used the alias “Natalie
Webb” and travelled on a forged South African passport. She is now officially
being hunted by 190 countries and is one of the most wanted international
fugitives in the world.
Police seized her laptop
in 2011 and found detailed plans of how to build bombs and evidence she was
planning multiple terrorist attacks both in Africa and the West.
She has also been linked
to grenade attacks at non-Muslim places of worship in Africa and a terrorist
attack on western football fans watching Euro 2012 in the Jericho bar in Mombasa.
Head of Interpol Ronald
Noble said: “There is a global ‘tripwire’ for this fugitive. All 190 member
countries are aware of the danger posed by this woman, not just across the
region but also worldwide.”
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