The Al-Shabaab had planned to hit three major installations in
Mombasa in a “sequenced and near-simultaneous attacks” targeting
hundreds of innocent civilians.
The attacks would have been carried out using vehicle–borne
improvised explosive devices (VBIEDs), according to crucial intelligence
information obtained by the Daily Nation.
The planned attacks were “very ambitious” and would have been the
worst in Kenya’s history had they succeeded — probably far worse than
the 1998 US Embassy bombing and Westgate, Kenyan security sources close
to the investigation said.
The first installation to be hit would have been Moi International
Airport. The plan was to storm the airport security gates shortly before
2 am with a suicide commando team before detonating a vehicle packed
with high-grade plastic explosives at the International Arrivals
Terminal.
The terrorists’ intended target was a group of foreign nationals,
estimated to be over 300, on board two early morning international
flights and who would have been at the arrival lounge at that particular
time.
The second target was a ferry plying the narrow Likoni water channel linking Mombasa Island with the South Coast mainland.
“The plan was to detonate a 4X4 packed with explosives by remote
control as the ferry was mid channel. The attack was timed to coincide
with the early morning rush hour when the ferry would normally have been
packed with close to 3,000 people.
It is believed the Toyota four-wheel-drive vehicle that was found
with explosives at the Changamwe police station on March 18 was marked
for the ferry hit.
The third target was the Nakumatt Likoni branch located only a short
distance from the ferry ramp on the island side. This attack was
designed to occur simultaneously with the one on the ferry.
“If you can synchronise two attacks well, you maximise the impact.
The ferry and the supermarket hits were primarily designed to sow fear
among Kenyans; whereas the airport attack was targeting Westerners,” one
of the sources noted.
The whereabouts of the other two vehicle bombs remain a mystery.
Sources suggest it is plausible they may have since been dismantled and
the explosives “carted away to other locations”.
