The British widow of 2005 suicide bomber may be behind the Kenya shopping mall seige — and among the terrorists who were killed in the carnage,
The New York Daily News reported Monday.
Known as the "White Widow," Samantha Lewthwaite, a 29-year-old mother of three, has been on the run since her husband
Jermaine Lindsay blew himself up in the July 7, 2005, suicide bombing strikes in downtown London.
An intelligence officer and two soldiers told
Reuters one of the killed attackers in the terror strike on an upscale Kenyan mall over the weekend was a white woman.
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Defense chief General Julius Karangi said militants "from all over the world" took part in the Nairobi assault.
The Somali terror group al-Shabab have claimed responsibility for the horrific attack, and lauded the "White Widow" on its Twitter account, claiming she was involved in the bloodshed, London's
Mirror newspaper reported.
"Sherafiyah lewthwaite aka samantha is a vrave (sic) lady! were happier to have her in our ranks!" In another posting they warned: "This is no more than a drill for a bigger event!"
"I suspect this woman Lewthwaite is behind this attack," a senior anti-terror source told the
Daily Mail as survivors described how a woman in a veil appeared to be commanding the other terrorists as they hunted down and killed non-Muslim shoppers, shooting them to death if they could not recite the Koran.
In December 2011, Kenyan police found chemicals similar to what was used in the July 7 London attack after raiding a two-room apartment in in Mombasa, the New York Daily News reported. Lewthwaite had rented the flat, but was not captured.
A British man, Jermaine Grant, was arrested at the apartment and said he was working with Lewthwaite.
Earlier this year, the "White Widow" conspired with another terrorist to free Grant, according to Kenyan prosecutors, the News reported.
She is connected to other terror attacks and as been described as a financier, recruiter and trainer for al-Qaida, and the creator of an all-women jihadist squad in Somali, The Daily Mail reported.
Her nickname came from British journalists tweaking the term to fit Lewthwaite, described by some al-Shabab tweets as the "White Sister."
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