Nairobi mall suspect exposes 'Scandinavia connection'

The suspected involvement of a Norwegian in last month's Nairobi mall bloodbath is bringing into focus Scandinavia's large Somali diaspora, which is believed to have supplied dozens of fighters in recent years. Dozens of Somali-born Scandinavians have returned to their homeland to join the jihad in recent years, observers said, as suspicion fell on a Norwegian man over last month's Nairobi mall bloodbath. Between 20 and 30 people have departed from Norway to join Somalia's Al Qaeda-linked Shebab, some of them to hold leadership roles, according to Stig Jarle Hansen, an independent Norwegian Somalia specialist. "We're not talking mass recruitment, but some of these recruits are to be taken very seriously," Hansen said. The BBC said Thursday that one member of the Westgate mall commando caught by the security cameras was Hassan Abdi Dhuhulow, a 23-year-old Norwegian citizen who emigrated from Somalia as a child in 1999. An unidentified relative of Dhuhulow told the Norwegian public service broadcaster NRK that he was not the person on the security camera images. Officials at the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) did not confirm the BBC report but reiterated they were investigating the possible implication of a Norwegian of Somali origin, who is likely to be Dhuhulow. "Based on the information that we have uncovered this far in the investigation... the suspicion of his involvement has been strengthened," it said Friday. The massacre, which lasted from September 21 to 24 and was carried out by a small group of attackers, left 67 people dead and 23 missing, according to the Kenyan authorities and Red Cross. Two PST investigators have travelled to Nairobi and are currently working on the case there. "One aspect of the investigations consists of determining if (the Norwegian suspect) is dead or alive," PST spokesman Martin Bernsen said. The Norwegian police are concerned about the increasing number of people who have left the country to take part in conflicts or to join training camps and "terrorist networks". Abdulkadir Mohamed Adbulkadir, a Somali-born Kenyan who is known as "Ikrima" and lived in Norway between 2004 and 2008, is also believed to be on the police radar. According to the US, Ikrima has links with Al-Qaeda members responsible for the 1998 attacks against the US embassy in Nairobi and was the target of a US Special Operations Forces raid against a Shebab stronghold in southern Somalia earlier this month. According to Norwegian broadcaster TV2, "a report issued by the Kenyan intelligence service... shows that Ikrima is suspected of having played a central role in planning and carrying out several terrorist attacks in Africa." His name has also been linked to the Westgate massacre, but without an official confirmation from Oslo. Scandinavian countries are home to Europe's largest Somali diasporas after Britain and Hansen said it was not particularly surprising that the Westgate investigation should lead to Norway. Some 33,000 people with Somali origin or citizenship currently reside in Norway, according to official data, which makes them one of the Nordic country's main non-Western minorities. "We now have the same problems as all the other countries with a large Somali community, Britain, Denmark, Sweden and Kenya, for example," said Hansen, who this year published a book considered an authority on the Shebab. Individuals from both Denmark and the United States have carried out suicide attacks for the Shebab in the past and one of the organisation's top leaders, Fuad Mohamed Khalaf "Shangole", holds Swedish citizenship. Only a tiny fraction of Norway's Somali community actually go abroad to fight, and when they do so, they are channelled through an organised network. "The Shebab are very picky with who they choose, and successful candidates always must have others who can vouch for them," Hansen said. The most famous case in Norway so far was that of a young man who was enrolled in the Shebab just after leaving the prestigious Norwegian Royal Guard. He was later killed in Somalia.