The planned attack on the UAE embassy in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa was coordinated internationally, and a similar attack was planned in Khartoum, NISS claims
borkena
February 3, 2021
Ethiopian Intelligence Agency, National Information and Security Services (NISS), said on Wednesday that it foiled a planned attack on the United Arab Emirates Embassy in the capital Addis Ababa.
The Agency disclosed to Ethiopian News Agency, state media, that it has arrested 15 individuals who were allegedly on a mission to attack the embassy.
NISS said that it has been working with domestic and international agencies when it was following up the suspects, and they received the mission from oversea as they were planning their attacks on the embassy which is located on Mekanisa Road, near Indonesian Embassy.
“Weapons they prepared to use for the attack, including explosives, and other documents are sized,” said the NISS as reported by ENA.
It is also said that the agency got concrete evidence that the suspects were undertaking research and gathering information for the attack.
Furthermore, NISS claims that it has verified from the information it gathered that Ali Ahmed, one of the suspects who is said to be 35 years of age, received tens of thousands of US dollars from overseas to fund the mission to attack the UAE embassy.
Days after Ali’s arrest, NISS arrested Mohammed Abdulkani, another suspect who was coordinating the attack with Ali Ahmed. Firearms and explosives were seized from his residence whose location in the city is undisclosed.
Also, NISS announced that another terror group was planning a similar attack on the UAE embassy in Khartoum, Sudan. The agency, it was said, worked with Sudanese Intelligence to foil the attack.
Ahmed Ismail, Sweden-based individual as described by NISS, was giving directions on the terror mission and was a key figure in the planning too. He is said to have given direction for the collection of intelligence information about the UAE embassy.
Apart from Ethiopia and Sweden, suspects operated in other countries too. NISS said that it is working on arresting 21 other suspects.
Those who are arrested in Ethiopia are under the Federal Police Custody , and further investigation is underway.
The United Arab Emirates Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, or the UAE embassy in Addis Ababa did not release a statement regarding the development at this writing.
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