Al-Shabaab’s Kenyan commander reportedly killed in airstrike

A Kenyan-born top Al-Shabaab commander who is believed to be responsible for conducting the El Adde attack is suspected to be among 40 militants of the terror group who were killed in an airstrike on Friday.

The El Adde attack, which happened on January 15, 2016, claimed the lives of several Kenya Defence Forces soldiers and ranks as the worst military casualty Kenya has ever suffered. 

Security sources have revealed that Ahmed Iman Ali aka Abu Zinara, a fugitive who belongs to the terror group, is suspected to be among 40 members of Mujahideen, the Al-Qaeda group in the region, who were killed by an airstrike in Buaale town, Somalia on March 22, 2019.

A security brief seen by Nairobi News, states that an unidentified aircraft, which was targeting a “building complex in Buaale town in Middle Juba, may have killed the Kenyan born terrorist and group top commander.”

WANTED TERRORIST

The fighter, an engineer by profession and graduate of the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, has been on the international wanted list and was in 2012 listed as a wanted terrorist by the FBI.

On June 27, 2016, the militia recruiter and trainer appeared in video propaganda called “So wait, we too are waiting with you.”

The video, released by Al-Kataib, Al-Shabaab’s media wing, targeted the Kenyan military.

In July 2017, Abu Zinara again appeared in another video where he issued threats to Muslims serving in Kenya’s security forces.