Somalia: Top Al-Shabaab leader killed in joint airstrike
The Somali government announced Monday that an al-Shabaab leader, with a $ 3 million bounty in his head, was killed in a joint airstrike in southern Somalia.
The October 1 drone strike, launched by the Somali army and international security partners, killed Abdullahi Yare near the coastal town of Haramka, the information ministry said in a statement released Sunday but posted online Monday.
“This leader was the main preacher of the group and one of the most famous members of the Shabab group,” it reads. “He was a former head of the Shura council and the group’s finance director,” the ministry said, citing a strong advisory body within al-Shabaab.
According to the ministry, Yare, co-founder of the al-Qaeda-affiliated group, is next in line to take over the leadership of the movement from ailing leader Ahmed Diriye.
“Eliminating him is like a thorn removed from Somalia as a nation,” the ministry said.
Yare was one of seven leaders named by the United States on the 2012 most wanted list. Washington has offered $ 3 million for his arrest. The strike announcement comes weeks after newly elected Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud vowed to stage an all-out war against extremists, following a series of deadly attacks. They include a 30-hour hotel siege in the capital, Mogadishu, which killed 21 people.
Last month, Mohamud urged citizens to stay away from areas controlled by al-Shabaab as he vowed to step up offensives against militants.
US forces have in the past partnered with African Union soldiers and Somali troops in counterterrorism operations, and have carried out frequent raids and drone strikes on training camps in Al- Shabaab all over Somalia.
Last month, the US military said it killed 27 extremist fighters in an airstrike near Bulobarde, the main town on the road from Mogadishu to Beledweyne, a key town on the border with Ethiopia. He said the airstrike was carried out “at the request” of the Somali government.
Somalia: Top Al-Shabaab leader killed in joint airstrike
Al-Shabaab, which adheres to a strict version of Sharia law, has led a bloody insurrection against the Mogadishu government for 15 years and remains a powerful force despite an African Union operation against the group.
The fighters were evicted from the capital in 2011 but continue to attack military, government and civilian targets.
Last week the group claimed responsibility for a bomb attack that killed a senior Somali police officer near the al-Shabaab-controlled village of Bursa, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of Mogadishu.
