In February 2018, police foiled a major terrorist attack after fighting off gunmen, killing one and arresting two others.
The incident happened at Merti in Isiolo County where the police found a cache of arms, including 36 grenades and five automatic rifles.
A vehicle loaded with explosives was impounded. The terrorists planned to blow up the Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED)- simply a highly destructive bomb on wheels- at Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC) at the heart of Nairobi city.
Signage showing the direction to Merti town in Isiolo County.
Photo credit: Joseph Kanyi | Nation Media Group
The arrested suspects were identified as Somali national Abdimajit Hassan Adan, 24, and a Kenyan, Mohammed Nane, 23.
The duo has since been convicted, serving a 19-year jail term after they were found guilty of planning the terror attack.
A year later, on February 15, 2019, armed terrorists stormed the DusitD2 Complex in Nairobi and killed at least 21 people, leaving many others injured.
In the DusitD2 attack, two suspects, Hussein Mohamed Abdille and Mohammed Abdi Ali, were charged in court, where they faced at least 21 counts related to terrorism, falsely obtaining Kenyan IDs and facilitating terrorism.
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Now, a judgment delivered on May 22, 2025, by Justice Diana Mochache at Kahawa Magistrate’s Court, has revealed a link between the Merti incident and the DusitD2 attack.
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Justice Mochache noted that testimony by a forensic analyst from the Anti-Terror Police Unit (ATPU) headquarters pointed to a nexus between the two incidents.
Mr Titus Lagat, a system analyst with ATPU, through forensic evidence, revealed that Hussein Mohamed Abdille was connected to Abdimajit Hassan, implicated in the Merti VBIED case.
The court heard that the same Identification card (ID) that was used to register phone number 0729056306- which facilitated the Dusit attack- was also used to register 0720496103, which was linked to the Merti incident.
Both registrations were done in Mandera town, and the ID used belonged to an old man, only identified as Yusuf, who had reported it missing to the police.
Violet Kemunto, wife of Ali Salim Gichunge, one of the key suspects behind the January 15, 2019 DusitD2 terror attack.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
On January 11, 2019, while travelling to Mandera, one Violet Kemunto shared 0729056306 with Ali Gichunge, her husband.
Kemunto’s role in the attacks has never been established since she fled to Somalia thereafter. Gichunge was one of the attackers.
Further analysis by the ATPU showed the same number had shared the same handset of IMEI number 357810067735060 with two other numbers, including 0708151836 used by Mohamed Nane in the Merti incident and 0708154070 used by Hussein Abdille.
It was Hussein Abdille who received Kemunto’s parcel sent to Mandera by Gichunge before she crossed into Somalia through Bulahawa.
Mr Lagat told the court that sharing a lMEl meant that the three phone Numbers 0729056306 (alias Yusuf), 070815836 (Osman Nane) and 0708154070 (Abdille) at some point used the same device.
A further search of the database established that Mohamed Abdi Ali, the second accused in the DusitD2 attack, is also linked to the foiled Merti VBIED attack.
The search revealed that Abdimajit, the lead planner of the foiled attack (now convicted) was using the number 0703369997 that received Sh257,400 from Mohamed Abdi between January 31 and February 13, 2018, through 0723049886.
Between October 4 and October 25, 2018, Mohamed Abdi sent Ali Salim Gichunge Ksh149,400 using the same phone number.
The evidence by Mr Lagat linked Hussein Mohamed to the actors in both the Dusit and Merti cases as he shared a lMEl with alias Yusuf (0729056306), who was not only in constant communication with Violet Kemunto, the lead attacker's wife, but, was also lastly geolocated in Mandera at the same location.
Security footage shows Ali Salim Gichunge (left) and another attacker walking into the compound of the DusitD2 hotel in Nairobi on January 15, 2019. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Mohamed Abdi Ali, through his phone, sent money to Ali Salim Gichunge, the lead attacker in the DusitD2 attack and also to Abdimajit, the lead player in the foiled Merti incident.
A search of ID number 13…52 in the ATPU database blew the lid off the meticulous and well-planned attack in the city.
“There are indeed unexplainable coincidences between the players in the foiled Merti VBIED attack and the DusitD2 Hotel Complex attack. This is why. That there was a foiled attack in Merti (VBIED) is not in dispute; further, that a terrorist attack occurred at Dusit D2 Hotel Complex is also not in dispute,” the judge said.
The home of Dusit terror attack suspect Ali Salim Gichunge at Kulamawe in Isiolo town as pictured on January 17, 2019. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
“There is an African idiom that says: ‘Lightning does not strike a tree twice.’ The connection between the two cases is very relevant to the case at hand, insofar as it shows that, at the time of arrest. Both accused persons had interacted with suspected terrorists. Their involvement in the Dusit case was, therefore, not maiden,” Justice Mochache said while convicting the two.
They will be sentenced on June 19, 2025.
According to Mr Hassan Rahol, a security analyst, militants always have more than one target, and they will go for the easiest to access.
“The terrorists usually have several targets in their plan with several teams involved, and where a team fails, the other hits, and when successfu,l then both or all teams execute their mission simultaneously,” he said.
To confirm Mr Rahol’s observation, a security report immediately after the Dusit D2 attack showed the attackers had visited the facility days before they attacked.
The same report also indicated that Gichunge, the lead attacker, had been to several places, including the Two River Mall, among others.
