Kenya hands al Qaeda suspect to US

WASHINGTON – Kenya has handed over an al Qaeda suspect accused in two terror attacks in East Africa to US authorities who have moved him into the Guantanamo Bay military prison, officials said on Monday.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Abdul Malik admitted involvement in a 2002 attack on a hotel in Mombasa, Kenya, that killed more than a dozen people and an attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner carrying 271 passengers near Mombasa. “Due to the significant threat this terror suspect represents, he has been transferred to Guantanamo,” Whitman told reporters.A senior defence official said Kenyan authorities had offered Malik to the US.Malik is the first detainee to be sent to Guantanamo since September 2006, when 14 al Qaeda suspects considered by the Pentagon to be ‘high-value’ detainees arrived from secret CIA prisons overseas, Whitman said.Nampa-Reuters”Due to the significant threat this terror suspect represents, he has been transferred to Guantanamo,” Whitman told reporters.A senior defence official said Kenyan authorities had offered Malik to the US.Malik is the first detainee to be sent to Guantanamo since September 2006, when 14 al Qaeda suspects considered by the Pentagon to be ‘high-value’ detainees arrived from secret CIA prisons overseas, Whitman said.Nampa-Reuters