Posted on 06/11/2011 5:20:37 PM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
AFP - The presumed head of Al-Qaeda in east Africa, Fazul Abdullah Muhammad, was killed Wednesday in Mogadishu, Kenya's police chief said Saturday, confirming a report from Somali Islamist Shebab rebels.
Fazul Abdullah, 38, is thought to have planned the massive US embassy truck bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in 1998 and had a $5 million bounty on his head.
"We have received that communication from authorities in Somalia. We have been told that there were two terrorists who were killed in Somalia on Wednesday last week," Kenyan Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere told AFP.
Iteere said the identity of one of the two had "been given as Fazul Muhammad ... That is what we have been told by our counterparts in Somalia."
"One of the men that was killed near Mogadishu was Fazul Abdullah, may Allah bless his soul. He is not dead as thousands like him are still in the fight against the enemy of Allah," a senior Al Shebab commander had earlier this week told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Officials with the Somali Transitional Government (TFG) said the men were killed at a roadblock on Tuesday night.
"Our forces fired on two men who refused to stop at a roadblock. They tried to defend themselves when they were surrounded by our men," a TFG military commander, Abdikarim Yusuf, told AFP.
"We took their ID documents, one of which was a foreign passport," he said, adding that an investigation was underway.
The incident happened on the north western outskirts of the Somali capital, a regional security source said.
"A blow to al Qaeda" according to the US
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Saturday that the death of Fazul Abdullah Mohammed was ``a significant blow to al-Qaida, its extremist allies and its operations in East Africa".
The two men were driving in a pick-up truck full of medicine, laptops and mobile phones.
The same source said the two appeared to have taken the wrong turning and ended up in an area under TFG control when they were trying to reach a Shebab position.
A Somali source close to the investigation said the man identified as Fazul was in possession of a South African passport in the name of Daniel Robinson and which gave his date of birth as 1971.
The passport, issued April 13, 2009, indicated that its bearer left South Africa for Tanzania on March 19 and was granted a visa there. The Tanzanian visa was the only one in the passport.
The man was also in possession of $40,000 in cash, the same Somali source said. He appeared to have come from Lower Juba in southern Somalia where he was heading a group of foreign fighters under the name of "Abu-Abdirahman the Canadian."
Contrary to normal practice when such incidents occur, the bodies of the two men were picked up by the Somali intelligence services and given to US officials for identification.
Fazul Abdullah, who was born in the Comoros islands, joined Al-Qaeda in 1991 and was believed to be behind the July 1998 embassy bombings that killed a total of 224 people in the worst atrocity by Al-Qaeda until the September 2001 attacks.
From 2002 he was put in charge of Al-Qaeda's operations in the whole of east Africa. That same year he planned anti-Israeli attacks in Mombasa that left 15 dead.
On January 8, 2007 he survived a US raid that left dozens of people dead at Ras Kamboni in southern Somalia.
“Mogadishu”
I am beginning to become mean.
“Fazul was in possession of a South African passport in the name of Daniel Robinson and which gave his date of birth as 1971.”
Robinson? Got relatives?
Is the head dead yet?
Is there a widow to get on the set?
I guess the body armor didn't help much. Looks like a neck/shoulder shot...?
I love the link from The Onion!
Another day, another dead head. They sure grow heads quickly. Reminds me of weeds.
This guy was East Africa. He was the FBI's most wanted in Africa and had a big part in planning the bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi in the late 90s.
My sister-in-law had been in one of those embassies that was bombed, right before the attack. I'm glad this slimeball is gone--it's a major victory, even if not by US assets.
Thanks..puts some perspective on it. Good riddance and great job by all. Nice to see something real happen for a change.
That’s good. Now, where is the head of Ayman Al Zawahiri?
I want to play some soccer!
Fazul fizzle foshizzle. Thanks to someone for taking the trash out.
Of the 25 or so Al Qaeda located in the Sudan in 1992 and who planned the attack on U.S. forces in Somalia it seems only Ayman al-Zawahiri is now left.
It's Miller time.
thanks DeaconBenjamin, related topic with pic:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2733367/posts
All of Somalia is, still, a “mess”. There’s a lot of “cleaning up” to do, throughout all of Somalia!
bump
I searched qaeda. I guess qaeda’s slipped past.
It happens. The leftist shills at Google are generally faster. I posted a topic tonight, then wondered if anything related had been posted in the past — and the brand new topic was already in the results. :’)
May he Rest in Pork! (RIP!)
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