Thursday, May 01, 2008

The spokesman for the Islamic al-Shabab militia, Sheik Muqtar Robow, said the strike killed Aden Hashi Ayro, his brother, another commander and six others at his house in the central Somali town of Dusamareeb, about 300 miles north of Mogadishu. Six more people were wounded, two of whom later died, said resident Abdullahi Nor.

"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," Robow told The Associated Press by phone.

"This would not deter us from continuing our holy war against Allah's enemy; we will be on the right way, that is why we are targeted," he added.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the airstrike.

Over the past year, the U.S. military has attacked several suspected extremists in Somalia, most recently in March when the U.S. Navy fired at least one missile into a southern Somali town.

Somali government officials have said Ayro trained in Afghanistan before the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and is the head of al-Qaida's 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 their Ethiopian allies. Ayro also recently called for attacks on African peacekeepers in Somalia in a recording on an Islamic Web site.

Sheik Muhidin Mohamud Omar, who Robow described as "a top commander" in the Al-Shabab, was also killed.

Local resident Nur Geele said the attack occurred around 3 a.m.

"We heard a huge explosion and when we ran out of our house we saw a ball of smoke and flames coming out of the house where one of the leaders of al-Shabab Aden Hashi Ayro was staying," he said.

Another resident, Nur Farah, said, "the bodies were beyond recognition, some them cut into pieces, and those wounded have been severely burnt."

Al-Shabab is the armed wing of the Council of Islamic Courts movement. The 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 U.N.-backed interim Somali government and the allied Ethiopian army drove the group from power that December.

Ethiopia's archenemy, Eritrea, has offered assistance to the group, and it is re-emerging. In recent months it 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 in an Iraq-style insurgency.

The United States has repeatedly accused the Islamic group of harboring international terrorists linked to al-Qaida, which is allegedly responsible for the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

America is concerned Somalia is a breeding ground for terrorist groups, particularly after the Islamic militants briefly gained control of the south and Osama bin Laden declared his support for them.

Fighting between government troops and the insurgents claimed thousands of lives last year and drove hundreds of thousands from their homes.

SOURCE: AP, May 1, 2008

gaafoow geesi @ 5/2/2008 11:13 AM EST  baqashii fardo la daaqdaahu ma faras ayeey is mooday?hadana ma bilaawdeen inaad ciraaq iyo afganistaana is mid ka dhigtaan wexeshnimada aad somaaliya ka wadaan?weligeen waan idiin aamusnayn Holl,na kuma dhihin forumkaan hala xiro ee dheeshu hadeeysan idinka idiinku jirin ma isbaaro ayaad noo dhiganeeysaan?xittaa Holl?dhexdiina dhuuqsada cambihii iyo mooskaad 18 kii sano cuneeysen ayaa leeydinka matajinayaaye,timo iyo tiin mineey tarmaan reerkii yimaadba isku taaga,indho xumayaal welee waxbadan waad ooyeeysane oohintiina guryihina la jooga hadii kale oohin iyo ceeb ayaad isku darsaneeysan hadaad isku daydaan inaad wax soo qortaan,

mucaawiye @ 5/1/2008 10:35 PM EST  I have never felt more anxious before that wrath of Allah is descending upon us as repercussions of Bush's non-stoppable killing machine. He does not know that Allah can stop out Bush and his henchmen in the same manner that Pharoa and follower were stopped by drowning them while unable to scope or safe themselves. Can someone elobrate what can be the shortcomes or validate the soundness and drawbacks of this scenario: Can it be consider a Justice has prevail; if Saudi or Iran government allegedly happened to punish a young, white and hard-core neoconservative’s opposition to Saudi Arabia or Iran’s bad policy of enslaving women, depriving their rights to vote, drive and work or let us say his opposition to Saudi Arabia foreign policy to importing Wahabism ideologies to poor Muslim world. Can it be consider that Suadi Arabia or Iran were right to kill anyone who oppose their foreign policy. What happened to Ayro happens everyday to innocent Iraqis and Afghani people; it is the byproduct of Bush’s axis of evil doctrine to wage unjustifiable war against innocent civilians.  When someone transgresses the rule of universe, proclaims obsolute power that unstopable and is uses against defendless people, than the wrath Allah is eminent and descends sooner than later upon transgressors.

Gacaliye@ @ 5/1/2008 7:54 PM EST  The guy had little or non-eduction, except weapon techniques, meaning one learns only k**ing, the killer is killed &  that is it.

undertaker @ 5/1/2008 6:58 PM EST  Aden Hashi Farah "Eyrow" (also spelled Ayrow or Ayro, ? - 1 May 2008 was a leader of the Hizbul Shabaab, the armed wing of the Somali Islamic Courts Union (ICU). He was from the Ayr sub- clan, part of the Habar Gidir, which is a branch of the Hawiye clan. He was reportedly married to Halima Abdi Issa Yusuf. He was among several militants killed in a U.S. airstrike on May 1, 2008. Early life Little is known about Aden Hashi Farah Ayro, though from his clan, it was known that he received little formal education of any kind before joining the Ifka Halane Islamic court in the mid-1990s under the tutelage of Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys. According to sources from the International Crisis Group, Aweys selected him to go to Afghanistan for further training. Afghanistan and Al-Qaeda Aden Hashi Farah Ayro was said to have gone to Afghanistan to train with al-Qaeda before 2001, according to Matthew Bryden of International Crisis Group. Here he was supposedly trained in explosives and other insurgent tactics, applying them in the Islamic Courts Union militias later on; notably with the Shiirkoole (Circolo) court of Mogadishu. It was after this stint with the terror organisation that he went back to Somalia in 2003 to set up a network with other al-Itihaad al-Islamiya veterans to assassinate foreigners and opponents, culminating in the eventual deaths of four foreign aid workers and at least ten Somali former military and police officers. On June 10, 2006, The Guardian broke this story by stating, "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. They also desecrated an Italian cemetery in Mogadishu to great international outrage, and helped shelter and provide assistance to Al-Qaeda operatives in Banaadir and the Lower Shabelle region of Somalia. During this period, Ayro's actions remained clandestine Islamic Courts Union On June 15, 2006, Aden Hashi Farah "Eyrow" was said to have taken a load of arms sent from Eritrea 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. Attempt on life Theresa Whelan, the U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for African affairs, in a press conference on January 17, 2007, said she believed the U.S. AC-130 gunship raid which occurred on January 8 had killed eight fighters linked to Aden Hashi Farah Ayro. Ayro was believed to have been wounded in the attack and perhaps killed. However, on March 7, 2007, it was found that Aden Hashi Ayro, who has described himself as a commander of the Islamic Courts movement, said in an audio tape sent to Mogadishu-based Koran Radio: "It is time for the Somali youth to fight the occupation by Ethiopia and others." He further said, "We will fight for the name of Allah and our country. Let us bring together all our forces to fight the enemy of Somalia. Al-Qaeda in Somalia According to intelligence provided to Somalia's Deputy Defence Minister, Salad Ali Jelle, Aden Hashi Ayro was named by Al Qaeda as its leader in the wartorn nation. It was also reported by the Associated Press that the United Nations have attributed 16 killings to him, including BBC journalist Kate Peyton and a failed attempt to bring down an Ethiopian airliner. Death On May 1, 2008, he was killed in a pre-dawn airstrike launched by U.S. forces

Arraweelo10 @ 5/1/2008 1:23 PM EST  Ceeyrow tag, yaa dhiman Abuu mansuur iwm. Is diyaariya inta idinka hartay waan is dhaahayey Mareykan inay soo wadaan duqeyn diyaarado ah. Talow yaa soo jaajusay oo u soo sheegay Mareykan aqalka iyo meesha ay ku shiraayeen. Bal yaa shira habeen barkii, 2dii habeenimo iyo wixii ka danbeeya...shaydaamo.