The Ethiopian National Intelligence and Security Service and Federal Police Joint Anti-Terrorism Taskforce said yesterday that it has captured two terrorist cells in Ethiopia belonging to a terrorist sect called Kaworja.
The Taskforce said the terrorist cells it has captured were comprised of a group of 25 individuals who were organized in two groups and were linked to two global terrorist cells: Al-Shabab and Al-Qaeda. According to a statement from the Taskforce, the two groups have taken training in neighboring Somalia.
The announcement came less than a week after the US government issued an alert warning claiming it has credible information about potential terrorist–linked activities in Ethiopia, and soon after the Taskforce said it has apprehended a man who was preparing to carryout terror attack in Addis Abeba.
The Taskforce further said that the first group receives instructions from an unnamed terrorist organization operating from South Africa. The group also received training from Al-Shabab in Somalia and shuttles between Kenya and South Africa and was planning to start operating from Jimma town, some 300km west of Ethiopia. The second group was receiving support and instructions from similar Kaworja jihadist cells in Yemen, the UK and Sudan. The Taskforce said that it has discovered some 30 members of this group have taken training from Al-Shabab in Somalia. It said the Kaworja group follows similar teachings as that of Boko Haram, a group of Islamist fighters accused of series deadly attacks in Nigeria.
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