White Widow has ‘masterminded 400 murders’: British jihadi allegedly planned Kenyan university attack that left 148 dead after rising fast through Al Shabaab’s ranks

White Widow Samantha Lewthwaite has masterminded the murder of 400 people after becoming a key member of terror group Al Shabaab, it was claimed last night.

The British jihadi is thought to have orchestrated a number of attacks including last month’s slaughter of 148 people at a university in northern Kenya.

Lewthwaite, the widow of London 7/7 bomber Jermaine Lindsay, is believed to have risen rapidly through the ranks and is now very close to its leader Ahmad Umar.

The London University graduate is now coordinating car bombs and suicide attacks in Somalia and Kenya as well as trying to recruit children as jihadis, according to an officer in the Somali security forces.

The anti-terror officer told the Daily Mirror last night that mother of four Lewthwaite is ‘an evil person but a very clever operator’ who has been quickly promoted after many of al Shabaab’s leaders have been killed in drone strikes.

The official also said the 31-year-old Briton was offering poverty-stricken families £300 to use their children and women as suicide bombers.

He added: ‘We share all our information with British agents here in Mogadishu. They are here to keep an eye on the lady and other Britons in Somalia.
‘The SAS are ready to get her or we are ready to call in a drone strike against her. We will get her eventually’.

The Foreign Office was unable to comment on the revelations last night.

Lewthwaite left her home in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, in the wake of the 7/7 attacks in 2005 and has been on the run for nearly four years after plotting to kill tourists in Mombasa.