A senior Shabaab commander who fought in Afghanistan and has close ties with al Qaeda is reported to have been killed in the Predator airstrike that took place in southern Somalia late last month. The report is unconfirmed.
Ibrahim al Afghani is said to have been killed in the June 25 Predator airstrike that targeted a training camp outside of the southern port city and Shabaab haven of Kismayo, according to RBC Radio, a local Somali news service. A “senior officer” for al Qaeda identified as Bilal El Berjawi is said to have been wounded during the strike and has sought treatment at a hospital in Kenya.
Four days after the June 25 airstrike, US officials told The Washington Post that two Shabaab commanders were targeted by Predators. US helicopters were reported in the area after the strike, and according to a report in The Associated Press, US forces landed in an attempt to retrieve “wounded militants.”
US intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal said they were aware of the reports of Afghani’s death but could not confirm that Afghani was killed. One US official said Afghani was a “person of interest” and a “dangerous individual,” but would not say if he was indeed the target of the strike.
If he is confirmed to have been killed, Afghani would be the second Shabaab and al Qaeda leader killed in Somalia in the past month. On June 8, Somali troops killed Fazul Abullah Mohammed, the leader of al Qaeda in East Africa and a top Shabaab commander, during a shootout at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Mogadishu.
Afghani, who is also known as Ibrahim Hajj Jama and Abubakar al-Seyli’i, previously served as Shabaab’s regional governor of the Kismayo administration. The Somalia Monitoring Group, in a March 2010 report, said Afghani is one of the group’s top leaders. Afghani was listed after Ahmed Abdi Aw Mohamed, Shabaab’s leader, who is better known as Sheikh Mukhtar Abu Zubayr and Godane.
Afghani received his nom de guerre because he waged jihad in Afghanistan for years.
A leaked Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) threat assessment, dated Aug. 6, 2007, describes Afghani as “an al-Ittihad al-Islami (AIAI) military commander known for his religious knowledge as well as loyalty and support for al Qaeda and the Taliban and for his continuing links to Afghanistan.” The file continues: “Jama was one of the first founders of al Qaeda affiliated AIAI cells and one of the instigators of terrorist attacks in Somaliland.”
Prior to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Afghani reportedly traveled to Islamabad, Pakistan along with Shabaab leader Aden Hashi Ayro, Shabaab’s former military commander who was killed in a US airstrike in the spring of 2008. Afghani and Ayro were accompanied by 15 other “people from Somalia,” according to the leaked JTF-GTMO file, and they went to Pakistan “to meet with the Somali community there.” Afghani “traveled openly,” while “Ayro and other members of the group traveled secretly and later moved on to Afghanistan.”
Afghani maintained ties in Pakistan after Sept. 11, 2001. According to the leaked JTF-GTMO file, Afghani “established contact” with a former Guantanamo detainee named Abdullah Sudi Arale, who was from the same Somali tribe. The file identifies Arale as a “member of the East Africa al Qaeda (EAAQ) organization” and a “leader” of Somalia’s Islamic Courts Union, which spawned Shabaab. Arale allegedly “served as a courier and facilitator between EAAQ and al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan.” [For more on Arale, see LWJ report, The Gitmo Files: Fazul Mohamemed continued to seek bin Laden’s direction.]
Afghani, Arale, and Zubayr all belong to the Ishaak, or Isak, clan, a senior Somali official told The Long War Journal.
For more information on Shabaab’s links to al Qaeda, see LWJ report, Somalia’s Shabaab vows allegiance to new al Qaeda emir Zawahiri.
10 Comments
Another fine report, Bill. Nice hearing from you again, Thomas.
as a somali people we thank american gov. that she is targeting terrirosts in our country who do not want peace and stability for our land
Yes its right to kill that man american airlines ibrahim wase killed many of somali muslim peaple we dont khow that
this is good hearing for all Somali peoples and help from God and who wants like to live peace, and i hope the next step should be erase all bad boys in all over the world ,
this is good hearing for all Somali peoples and help from God and who wants like to live peace, and i hope the next step should be erase all bad boys in all over the world ,
I am as somali national very pleased at the reported death of Ibrahim Afqani! These poeple are like khemere rouge. We somali poeple are very gratefull of the international efforts to eradicate these subhumans. We can have as humans our own differences and conflicts of interrests but we all cherish life and human dignity and these Alqaida terrorists are anti life and human dignity!
I am very sorry to kill mr afghani I know that he is wrong but they kill him his religion and why he tried to refuse american and eithopian commond but it is not to make good somali affairs and security
another job well done
but, the bigger catch is that America has now stopped funding the Pakistan military with $800 million, That, is a job well done XD
Once again the text “former Guantanamo detainee” appears in an article. @Bill Roggio: Would you please do a “where are they now” article about the members of the Guantanamo Alumni Club. The Catch and Release Policy may be great for fishing but it is a bad policy to use in time of war. The impact of the Saudi Arabian reform school treatment for Guantanamo alum should be a part of the article. The network news TV stations showed video of Guantanamo alum participating in painting classes at the Saudi school. So much for failure. In the immortal movie script words of Shaka Zulu: “Never leave an enemy behind or it will rise again to fly at your throat.”
Interesting article. Illuminating.
Well done.