I have found some details on the AQ commander in Somalia.
Aden Hashi Ayro, thought to be Al Qaeda's top commander in Somalia, was killed in a U.S. military air strike in the early hours of May 1, 2008.
The Pentagon confirmed the strike on a home in the Somali town of Dusamareeb, but did not specifically identify Ayro as the victim. As many as nine other people were killed in the raid on Ayro's home.
A spokesman for the Islamic al-Shabab militia, Sheik Muqtar Robow, said Ayro died in the blast.
The raid is one of several U.S.-led bombings in Somalia. The strike was a blow against the Islamist rebels waging a guerrilla campaign against Somalia’s government and its Ethiopian allies.
Fast Facts
- Ayro high ranking member of Al Qaeda
- Reports say Ayro trained in Afghanistan prior to 9-11
- Extremist al-Shabab militia ousted from power in 2006
- Dusamareeb: 300 miles north of Mogadishu
- Ayro implicated in the 2005 murder of BBC journalist Kate Peyton
- "As I have said before, we will pursue terrorists worldwide. The U.S. is committed to identifying, locating, capturing and if necessary killing terrorist wherever they operate, train, plan their operations or seek safe harbor." — Bryan Whitman, Defense Department Spokesman
- "Our brother martyr Aden Hashi, has received what he was looking for — death for the sake of Allah — at the hands of the United States." — Sheik Muqtar Robow
The first thing I need to do is correct what I have been calling al-Shahab. It's al-Shabaab
Second, here is the Nov 2006 report to the UN on activities in Somalia.
Download CFRSomalia.pdf
This timeline of activities from Wikipedia on Al-Shabaab give clarity and detail:
On June 10, 2006 a report in The Guardian stated, "An unnamed network run by one of Aweys's proteges, Aden Hashi Farah "Ayro", has been linked to the murder of four western aid workers and more than a dozen Somalis who allegedly cooperated with counter-terror organisations."[8]
On June 15, 2006 the leader of Al-Shabaab, Aden Hashi Farah "Eyrow", was said to have taken a load of arms sent from Eritrea [9] (see page 12).
On July 26, 2006, Sheikh Mukhtar Roboow "Abu-Mansuur" was reported accepting another load of arms from Eritrea[9] (see page 15).
In July, 720 Somali volunteers were selected by Aden Hashi Farah "Eyrow" to travel to Lebanon to fight against the Israelis. Of those, only 80 returned to Mogadishu. In September, another 20 returned, along with five members of Hizbollah.[9] (see page 24).
The bankruptcy of a remittance company, Dalsan International, whose staff included the brother of Aden Hashi Farah "Eyrow", involved the suspicious disappearance of $10 million dollars. It was alleged, "an ICU military leader managed to divert a large amount of money to help financially support the organization in their fight for the control of Mogadishu during the June 2006 confrontation with the former counter terrorism alliance"[9] (see page 39). (Also see ARPCT, Second Battle of Mogadishu)
As of January 6, 2007, after the Fall of Mogadishu and Kismayo to the TFG, the leaders of the Shabaab were in hiding still at large.[10] A member of the disbanded group said they once numbered about 1,000 (lower than other claims by former members), but they do not have any weapons any more. Still, there was support for the call of Al-Qaeda leaders to maintain jihad against the Ethiopians and secular government.[11]
On January 19, 2007 the pro-Islamic Courts Union website Qaadisiya.com featured a video describing the reformation of the ICU into the "Popular Resistance Movement in the Land of the Two Migrations" (PRM), alternatively translated and referred to in press reports as the "Somali People's Insurgent Movement" (SPIM) or "Somali People's Resistance Movement" (SPRM). On January 24, Sheikh Abdikadir was announced to be its commander of the Banadir region.[12]
On January 31, 2007 the group made a video warning African Union peacekeepers to avoid coming to Somalia, claiming "Somalia is not a place where you will earn a salary - it is a place where you will die."[13]
On February 9, 2007 a gathering of 800 Somali demonstrators in north Mogadishu, where Islamist support was strongest, burned U.S., Ethiopian, and Ugandan flags in protest of the proposed African Union (AU) led and United Nations endorsed peacekeeping mission, known as AMISOM. "Abdirisaq", a masked representative of the resistance group, the PRM, said Ethiopian troops would be attacked in their hotels.[2][14][15]
On February 28, 2008, the United States Department of State designated al-Shabaab as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in accordance with section 219 of the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).[3]
Of particular interest to me is the Eritrean connection and the Hezbollah connection to al-Shabaab.
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