XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: jreynolds@att.net   
      
   A white man speaking "fluent British English" led suspected al-   
   Shabaab commandos who ransacked towns in northern Kenya leaving   
   60 people dead, witnesses have said.   
      
   Several people in Mpeketoni, which was attacked by as many as 40   
   Islamist gunmen on Sunday, told The Telegraph that the gang's   
   leader was pale-skinned and spoke English and Arabic.   
      
   One of the witnesses is a primary schoolteacher who speaks good   
   English, unlike many people in the remote corner of Kenya near   
   the Lamu archipelago that earlier this week became the country's   
   latest terror target.   
      
   The accounts strengthened suggestions that the attackers were   
   part of a well-trained team sent by al-Shabaab under the co-   
   ordination of an experienced foreign jihadi now working with the   
   Somali Islamists.   
      
   "I saw a white man who was speaking in fluent British English   
   commanding the rest of the attackers," said Mary Gachoki, who   
   lives in Mpeketoni.   
      
   Another woman, who did not want to be named for fear of al-   
   Shabaab reprisals, said: "There was a white man among them, he   
   was commanding them and was shouting now and then.   
      
   "I saw him ordering them to carry out the attacks, he could be   
   heard speaking frequently and at one point he spoke in Arabic   
   but most of the time in English," she said.   
      
   James Mwangi, another witness, was talking with a friend when he   
   heard the first gunshots.   
      
   "I saw a group of armed man standing then dividing themselves   
   into groups, one went to the police station, one towards the   
   town centre to attack the banks and businesses," he said.   
      
   "All were commanded by someone who was white or an Arab," he   
   said.   
      
   The claims echoed similar allegations made during the Westgate   
   terror massacre in a Nairobi shopping centre last September,   
   when witnesses said they saw a white woman among the attackers.   
      
   This prompted suggestions that Samantha Lewthwaite, the world's   
   most wanted woman who is said to be living in al-Shabaab   
   territory in Somalia, was involved.   
      
   CCTV footage has since shown these reports were false.   
      
   The larger of the two most recent raids happened on Sunday   
   night, when gunmen took control of Mpeketoni town and went door-   
   to-door asking people if they were Muslims. They executed those   
   who were not. Sixty people died.   
      
   There were further clashes on Monday night, when as many as 15   
   more people were killed. So far, no one has been arrested.   
      
   Kenya's president, Uhuru Kenyatta, shocked many when he claimed   
   the raids were the work of local politicians trying to stir up   
   ethnic hatred against his Kikuyu tribe, and not al-Shabaab.   
      
   This was despite the fact that the Somalia-based al-Qaeda army   
   had already claimed responsibility.   
      
   Benson Maisori, the region's deputy commissioner, denied that a   
   white man had led the raid and said a German man who lives with   
   his Kenyan wife in Mpeketoni may have been mistaken as one of   
   the attackers.   
      
   http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/k   
   enya/10908481/Kenya-al-Shabaab-attack-was-led-by-white-man-   
   speaking-fluent-British-English.html   
      
       
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)