Kenyan lawyer among terrorists killed in school attack

Abdirahim Abdullahi

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NAIROBI, Kenya (USA Today) — One of four Islamic militants who killed 148 people at a university last week was the well-educated son of a Kenyan government official, authorities said Sunday.

Interior Ministry spokesman Mwenda Njoka told the Daily Nation that Abdirahim Abdullahi, 24, was "a university of Nairobi law graduate and described by a person who knows him well as a brilliant upcoming lawyer."

Somalia-based al-Shabab militants claimed responsibility for the attack Thursday at Garissa University College that left 142 students, three soldiers and three police officers dead. Witnesses said the gunmen lined up and executed non-Muslim students.

Security forces stormed the school and killed the gunmen. Five other people have since been arrested, including three described as organizers who were nabbed as they fled to Somalia, Kenyan authorities said.

The involvement of a well-connected Kenyan was another ominous sign of the growing boldness of al-Shabab in this Christian-dominated nation of 45 million people.

Njoka said Abdullahi's father, Abdullahi Daqare, is a high-ranking local official in Mandera County, which borders Muslim Somalia. Njoka said the father had reported the son missing and suspected he had joined militants in Somalia.

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