Wanted terrorist arrested in the DRC

 Rashid Mohamed Salim, one of Kenya’s most wanted terrorists, was cornered and captured by local youths on Saturday in a village in the DRC. Salim was handed over to the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) and arrested.

“This young man is a great terrorist. He is a very big player in the activities of slaughtering Christians in this part of Beni,” a source in Beni told ICC. We have been receiving pictures and short films of him cutting the throats of Christians and the police. It is said that he is the one who captures them or has them captured via his telephone by fellow rebels when he is in the process of acting and publishes them as propaganda. He is already an Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) commander.” 

Salim was put on the Kenyan Anti-Terror Police radar in November 2021 with the government offering a $100,000 reward for him and four others on terrorism charges. He was feared to be on his way back to Kenya from Cabo Delgado where he had joined Mozambique’s Islamic State group.

Since his arrest, videos have emerged of Salim explaining the motivations behind the ADF insurgency. Asked about a video that showed him beheading a FARDC officer, Salim said, “I was given a machete by the ADF rebels to behead the government’s soldier that we had captured. They told me to draw attention to all the people of the world that there was Islam in Congo, and they were invited to come and spread the Islamic religion so that Islam can rule the whole world. So, I killed the FARDC soldier in the name of Allah.” 

Asked where he acquired the new FARDC, Salim said, “I was given by the ADF rebels when they captured us. In the forest, we have a commander called Abdalla who looks like an East African, but he is most likely Ugandan for he speaks some Luganda.” 

University-educated Salim was radicalized as a teen at a popular Mosque in Mombasa, Kenya. He has been linked with recruiting youth into terror groups in East Africa, and for various terrorist activities. 

His arrest comes three days after the Kenyan government assured safety for locals and foreigners following security alerts by European and American embassies in Nairobi urging their nationals to avoid public places.  

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