Interpol issues warrant for British terror widow
Samantha Lewthwaite, a British citizen dubbed the 'White Widow', is pictured in this undated photo posted on the Interpol website and released for distribution on September 26, 2013. Credit: Reuters/InterpolInterpol issued a wanted persons alert at Kenya\’s request on Thursday for Samantha Lewthwaite, a British citizen dubbed the "White Widow", without mentioning any suspected role in the Nairobi mall attack.
The international police agency issued an alert for 29-year-old Samantha Lewthwaite on Thursday.
The announcement of Interpol\’s "red notice" made no mention of the siege of Nairobi\’s Westgate mall by fighters from Somalia\’s al-Shabab group.
British police have cited Lewthwaite as a possible suspect.
Interpol did not link the warrant to the Nairobi shopping complex attack that left at least 67 dead.
However, it comes after much speculation linking Ms Lewthwaite to events there.
Al-Shabab was behind the attack and subsequent four-day siege at the Westgate shopping complex in the Kenyan capital.
Lewthwaite, a Muslim convert, whose first husband was one of the suicide bombers in the 2005 attack on the London transit system that killed 52 commuters is wanted by Kenyan authorities on charges of possession of explosives and conspiracy to commit a felony dating back to December 2011.
The Interpol alert requires member countries to detain the suspect pending extradition procedures.
It said she was also believed to use the alias "Natalie Webb".
Earlier on Thursday, armed men had stormed a Kenyan police compound located in a town near Kenya\’s border with Somalia in which two police officers were killed. Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack, five days after the attack on Westgate mall.
Three others were injured and at least 10 vehicles were set ablaze.
A police official said that the attackers struck the camp in the middle of the night.
The Interpol notice came on the same day as an attack on a security post near Kenya\’s border with Somalia, two Kenyan police officers were killed and three others were injured.
The attack on Mandera town came hours after al-Shabab threatened that violence would continue until Kenyan troops withdrew from Somalia.
Source: Agencies
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