'Al-Shabaab trainee' escapes, surrenders to police in Nakuru

Police are investigating the case of a 23-year-old who surrendered at Nakuru Central Police Station, claiming to be a member of terror group Al-Shabaab.

County police boss Samuel Obara told reporters on Monday that the man went to the station on Sunday evening.

“He turned up unarmed,” Mr Obara said, adding he was questioned immediately at the office of the Director of Criminal Investigations in Nakuru.

A senior detective, who did not want to be named, told the Nation that the man said he escaped from an Al-Shabaab training camp at Bombolulu in Mombasa County and that he had been fearing for his life.

He told police he joined the terror group in September 2018 and had been trained for five months.

Anti-Terror police unit from Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County, were also called to question the suspect.

The man surrendered five days after the Al-Shabaab attack at the dusitD2 office complex on 14 Riverside Drive in Nairobi, that left 21 dead.

Additional reporting by Winfrey Owino