Kenya sentences Al-Shabaab member to life imprisonment

A Kenyan court on Friday sentenced a man who confessed to being a member of the Somali militant group, Al-Shabaab, to life imprisonment. Elgiva Bwire Oliacha, also known as Mohamed Seif, had on Wednesday pleaded guilty to nine charges including causing bodily harm and being in illegal possession of assorted firearms, some of which had been used to carry out Monday attacks. The 28-year-old Al-Shabaab member was also handed a 15-year sentence for being in possession of firearms illegally, engaging in organized criminal activity and by being a member of an outlawed criminal group. The police raided his house on Tuesday night and found him in possession of 13 hand grenades, one AK 47, one sub-machine gun, two revolvers, two Berretta pistols and 716 bullets. "I have no regrets," Oliacha told Principal Magistrate Grace Macharia who hoped the sentence will send a strong lesson to other militant sympathizers in the country. Oliacha who the police said had received training recently in Somalia also pleaded guilty to causing grievous harm to those who were injured in a grenade attack on Monday night. The Monday attack took place as commuters were waiting for public transport at the congested bus terminus along Racecourse road in downtown Nairobi. Earlier on Monday, 13 people were injured when a grenade was thrown into a bar in the downtown area. The location of the second attack is not far from the scene of earlier attack on Monday morning.