Hiiraan Online
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Spokesman for Al-Shabaab movement in Somalia Sheik Ali Mohamud Raage (Sheik Ali Dheere) has told reporters that Saleh Ali Saleh has not died but was taken away by US commandos while injured.
US commandos using helicopters bombed a car which was carrying Saleh Ali Saleh and his body guards near the city of Baraawe in the lower Shabeele region. Nabhan was on the US most wanted list. Among other things, he was wanted over a 2002 truck bombing that killed 15 people at an Israeli-owned beach hotel in Kenya and a simultaneous failed missile attack on an Israeli airliner as it left nearby Mombasa.
After the attack, most media reported that Mr. Saleh was killed in the attack. Now, however, Al-Shabaab is denying that Mr. Salah died. The spokesman for Al-Shabaab says that he was informed by people who were working with Mr. Salah at the time of the attack that he was taken injured but alive.
“Abu Yusuf Saleh Ali Nabhan and his body guards were attacked unexpectedly by US commandos using six helicopters. They fought back bravely but at the end were overwhelmed and outnumbered and were taken away injured” said Al-Shabaab spokesman Sheik Ali Dheere in an interview with the BBC.
Sheik Ali Dheere added that this is not the first time the US military attacks members of their group and that in the past they killed Adam Hashi Ayrow and others who were at Badda Madow in lower Juba region.