Top Al shabab leader arrested as the group continue to turn on each other MOGADISHU (KON) — The Al Qaeda-affiliated militant group of Al Shabab arrested on Friday one of its top leaders in a town located in central Somalia as the internal rift within the leadership of the group widens, Keydmedia Online reports. Yusuf Isse locally better known as “Kaba-kutukade”, Al shabab’s commissioner for Middle Shabelle region, south Somalia was detained Friday by fellow militants following an arrest order from Ahmed Abdi Godane, the groups top commander, according to the Keydmedia Online source. Al shabab fighter, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media on the case, told Keydmedia Online by phone that “Kaba-kutukade”, along with other leaders were arrested as they were going to seminar in the region. “The detained leaders have been invited to attend today an Islamic seminar Friday by Ahmed Abdi Godane,Al shabab leader. They were taken in a pickup truck to undisclosed location. We don’t know where they held and what they committed,” he added. Al shabab continue to turn each other Since 2009, Al-Shabaab witnessed a number of its fighters, including several leaders, defect to Somalia’s Government. One such high profile defection was that in early 2013 of Islamist leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys. In 2013, Aweys and Al Shabaab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane had a falling out after Aweys did not agree with the harsh sentences and dictatorial behaviour of the Al Shabaab leader. The rift of the terrorist group led to battle of each other in the ancient port city of Barawe resulting in 15 deaths. He defected from the group and Surrendered to Federal Government. On 20 June 2013, Ibrahim al-Afghani, also known as Ibrahim Haji Jama Meeaad, first deputy leader of Al-Shabaab was killed during a gun battle in Barawe city when he resisted arrest, but family members, including Afghanis sister, said that he had been arrested and then executed by fellow militants. 12 September 2013, Omar Hammami, known as al-Amriki, and Osama al-Britani, a British citizen of Pakistani origin, have died in an early-morning attack in a village south-west of the capital, Mogadishu. They had been hiding from al-Shabab since leaving the group this year. Since then, Al Shabaab’s infighting has reached a climax. What are al-Shababs objectives? Many analysts described some of the cleavages that divide al-Shababs leadership, including competing clan loyalties and rifts between the groups nationalists intent on ousting AMISOM and the central government, and Gulf-sponsored radicals with transnational terror aims. The group continues to threaten neighboring countries as well as Western interests in Africa. In January 2013, Ethiopian authorities arrested more than a dozen al-Shabab-linked militants allegedly plotting attacks in the countrys east. in September 21, al-Shabab fighters claimed responsibility for a raid on a Nairobi mall, holding hostages for days and killing dozens of non-Muslims and foreign nationals. Keydmedia Online
Posted on: Sat, 23 Nov 2013 21:04:03 +0000
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