Earlier today, Shabaab, Al Qaeda’s branch for East Africa, publicly announced the death of Mohamed Mire, one of the group’s senior-most officials. The jihadist group stated that Mire was killed in a US airstrike. The US has yet to comment on any such airstrike as of the time of publishing.
“With pride, honor, and gratitude, we announce to the Muslim Ummah [worldwide Islamic community] the passing of the Mujahid Sheikh Mohamed Mire Jama, the Governor of the Islamic Provinces in Somalia,” the statement begins.
Shabaab refers to various states within its shadow governance of much of southern and central Somalia as ‘provinces’ of its envisioned future Islamic emirate. As the so-called “governor,” Mire acted as the group’s interior emir, tantamount to an interior minister, within its shadow structure.
“[Mire] achieved what he wished for,” the statement continues, “after more than 40 years as a defender of the religion of God, striving to raise God’s word and implement his laws, and supporting Muslims and the oppressed.”
Offering just a brief look into Mire’s background, Shabaab’s statement also notes that he was among the “first generation” of Somali mujahideen, having made a “prominent effort in confronting the Christianization campaigns of the 1990s that targeted the Muslim Somali people in order to destroy their faith.”
While not directly stated—and thus, unconfirmed—it is possible that Mire was originally a member of Al Ittihad al Islamiyya (AIAI), Somalia’s largest jihadist group in the 1990s, and a direct predecessor to Shabaab.
AIAI was heavily involved in combating forces from the United Nations, United States, and Ethiopia during this time, all of which Shabaab had previously demonized for attempting to promote Christianity in Somalia in the early 1990s.
Additionally, the statement includes information on how and when Mire was killed. Shabaab states that though the jihadi leader was able to avoid death before, he was not so lucky this month when “American planes bombed him on the night of December 24, 2024.” The group does not say where he was killed. However, the Somali government was quick to put out a statement, saying that its forces, backed by international partners, “successfully neutralized Mohamed Mire Jama, alias Abu Abdirahman […] the operation was conducted in Kunyo-Barow, Lower Shabelle.”
The US military’s Africa Command has not yet confirmed participating in this strike as of the time of publishing. Turkey has also conducted drone strikes against Shabaab in Somalia’s Lower Shabelle region in the past, though the United States has carried out most operations in that area.
Mire had a long history within the ranks of Shabaab. He was previously the group’s shadow governor for Somalia’s central Hiraan region before he became the group’s Zakat emir, overseeing Shabaab’s taxation efforts across areas it controls. In 2016, he was reported killed in a US drone strike, though he obviously survived.
As stated above, Mire most recently acted as the group’s de facto interior minister. This role was also specified within his designation as a global terrorist by the US State Department in 2022. State also noted that Mire was involved in Shabaab’s “strategic decision-making,” as he was a member of the group’s central shura (or leadership) council.
Mire is the first senior official confirmed killed by the group since Abdullahi Yare, the group’s da’wah [proselytizing] emir, was killed in a US drone strike in October 2022. However, Shabaab never confirmed Yare’s death as it did with Mire.
Somali officials also previously claimed that Maalim Ayman, a senior military commander who oversees the eponymous Jaysh al Ayman military unit in southern Somalia and northeastern Kenya, was killed in December 2023.
However, the most recent United Nations Sanctions and Monitoring Team report from July 2024 noted that Maalim Ayman is, in fact, still alive. As with Abdullahi Yare, Shabaab also never confirmed Maalim Ayman’s purported death. [For more on key leaders and personnel of Shabaab, see this 2023 study by FDD’s Long War Journal.]
Though Shabaab conceded that this terrorist leader has been killed, it promises to not forget about Mohamed Mire. The group stated that following his death, Mire’s blood “turned into light and fire.”
“Light that illuminates the path of his soldiers after him; and fire, which burns as revenge and retribution against those who killed him,” the group stated.
