Eleven terror suspects belonging to a regional terror cell linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) were on Monday, December 20, sent on a 30-day remand, after the judge denied their plea for bail. The group is part of the 14 suspects – including one who is still at large – who were arrested in October with assorted explosive devices which they aimed to use to launch terror attacks in different parts of Kigali. According to the suspects, the group is affiliated to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) which operates from the DR Congo, and they planned to attack Kigali to avenge for the assault by Rwandan armed forces on another terror group in Mozambique. The presiding judge ruled to release two of the suspects on bail, ruling that they fulfilled the conditions to be released and follow their substantive trial while out of custody. All the 13 suspects attended the ruling under tight security and listened as the judge went through the charges against them and the findings from the interrogation process to finally conclude with the ruling. Earlier during the pre-trial hearing held on December 15, and before then during interrogations, most of them had admitted of being part or knowing about the plan to detonate bombs in different areas in Kigali. Some of the areas they had intended to bomb include Kigali City Tower complex in the central business district and SP gas station in Nyabugogo. They also revealed that they wanted to assassinate different high ranking officials within Rwanda Defence Force and Rwanda National Police. The presiding judge said that based on confessions made by the suspects, eleven of them were denied bail in order to prevent chances of escaping or tampering with evidence while investigations are still ongoing. These include; Niyonshuti Ndoli Ismael (the said mastermind of the attack), Yussuf Justin Gatore, Salim Bagire, Hassan Mbaraga, Ibrahim Faida Uwayo, Eric Adri Muhawenimana, Anicet Iratureba, Saidi Abdoulbast Nsengiyumva, Afisssa Nikuze, Suleiman Hemed, and Moussa Ally Nizzar. They will be detained for 30 days as further investigation will be carried out. As for the two, Evrad Noel Mucyo and Idrissa Turufu Singirankabo, the court granted them bail on basis that there are not enough reasons they should remain detained during the investigation and trial period. Arrested from different places, they face seven charges which include conspiracy and incitement to commit terrorism, creating terrorism group or joining it, illegal use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in public places, among others. The suspects confessed that they wanted to carry out terror attacks as a revenge which they said was motivated by Rwanda Defence Force intervention in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique, where the ISIS-linked terror group was subdued. Rwanda on July 9, at the request of the Government of Mozambique, deployed a 1,000-person contingent of the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) and the Rwanda National Police (RNP) to Cabo Delgado Province, Mozambique, which has been affected by terrorism and insecurity.
