Africa AMU Intelligence Terrorism

Al-Qaeda Veteran Shot Dead in Somalia

By William Tucker

Fazul Abdullah Mohammad, al-Qaeda’s head of East African Operations, was killed by Somali police on June 8th. Mohammad was a 21 year al-Qaeda veteran who was involved in the 1998 bombings of two U.S. Embassies in Africa, the 2002 attack in Mombasa, Kenya, and more recently, in the suicide bombing in Kampala, Uganda. Over the last few years Mohammad was heavily involved with al-Shabaab and its predecessor organizations in the fight to rule all of Somalia. The tide of battle has turned against al-Shabaab in recent months as members of the African Union with a military presence in Somalia have taken a more aggressive tact against al-Shabaab and its allies in the war torn nation. Mohammad’s death will have an impact on militancy in East Africa, but it will hardly be enough to bring the violence to an end.

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