Fight against Somali-based terror group Al Shabaab has recorded a major victory following the death of one of the militant’s key commanders.
US Department of Defense Press Secretary Peter Cook said in a statement on Monday, December 7, that Al Shabaab senior leader Abdirahman Sandhere was killed in an airstrike five days earlier.
“The Department of Defense confirms that Abdirahman Sandhere, also known as ‘Ukash’, a senior leader of the al Qaeda-affiliated group Al Shabaab, is dead as a result of a U.S. military airstrike in Somalia undertaken on Dec. 2. Two other Al Shabaab-affiliated associates were also killed in the strike that specifically targeted Abdirahman Sandhere,” Cook said.
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This is an important step forward in the fight against Al Shabaab and the US will continue to use all the tools at its disposal – financial, diplomatic, intelligence and military – to dismantle all terrorist groups who threaten United States’ interests and people, he added.
Pentagon said a similar strike killed senior ISIL leader Abu Nabil, aka Wissam Najm Abd Zayd al Zubaydi, in Libya in November. The Iraqi national was said to have been a longtime al Qaeda operative.
Cook reiterated that US will continue to support the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) in its bid to stabilise the country.
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AMISOM, which was created in 2007 with the approval of the United Nations, has been facing opposition from the locals after reports of soldiers colluding with the terrorists in sugar and charcoal trade emerged.
In November, Somali parliament passed a motion to evict Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) from the mission as they were the most implicated in the report by Journalists for Justice. An earlier report by the UN indicated similar activity.
KDF, which has been in Somalia since 2011, dismissed the two reports saying the soldiers have nothing to to with the alleged illegal operations. The Kenyan forces are responsible for Lower and Middle Jubba where charcoal business is thriving.
Other troops in the AMISOM are from Uganda, Burundi, Djibouti and Ethiopia.
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