The man believed to be the head of al-Qaeda in Somalia has been killed in an airstrike along with eight other people, an Islamic insurgent group said on Thursday.
The spokesman for the Islamic al-Shabab militia, Sheik Muqtar Robow, said the overnight strike killed Aden Hashi Ayro, his brother, another commander and six others in the central Somali town of Dusamareeb. Six more people were wounded.
??ur brother martyr Aden Hashi, has received what he was looking for ??death for the sake of Allah ??at the hands of the United States,???Robow said by phone.
Somali government officials said Ayro trained in Afghanistan before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and heads al-Qaeda?? cell in Somalia.
He was a key figure in the al-Shabab movement, which aims to impose Islamic law and launches daily attacks on the shaky Somali government and its Ethiopian allies. He has also called for attacks on African peacekeepers in Somalia in a recording on an Islamic Web site.
Sheik Muhidin Mohamud Omar, who Robow described as ?? top commander??in the al-Shabab, was also killed.
A local elder, Ali Ahmed Said, said five people died inside the targeted house and the rest were in neighboring buildings. Earlier Robow had said all the casualties were in one house.
A resident, Nur Farah, said ??he bodies were beyond recognition, some them cut into pieces, and those wounded have been severely burnt.??br />
??f you look at the site of the attack, you would believe there has never been a house,??Nur Farah said.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the airstrike on the town 500km north of Mogadishu.
Over the past year, the US military has attacked several suspected extremists in Somalia.
Robow vowed the militia would keep fighting.
??hose who were guiding the attack, including [Somali] President Abdullahi Yusuf, we say to you if you feel happy with the death of our leader, you will regret it later ... If Ayro is dead, those he trained still remain strong and adamant to his way,??Robow said.
Al-Shabab is the armed wing of the Council of Islamic Courts movement. The US State Department considers al-Shabab a terrorist organization.
The Council of Islamic Courts seized control of much of southern Somalia, including the capital, Mogadishu, in 2006. But troops loyal to the UN-backed interim Somali government and the allied Ethiopian army drove the group from power in December 2006.
But the group in recent months has briefly taken several towns, freeing prisoners and seizing weapons from government forces. The insurgents usually withdraw after a few hours but continue to target Ethiopian and Somali forces.
The US has repeatedly accused the Islamic group of harboring terrorists linked to al-Qaeda.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese