Senior Al-Shabaab Leader Executed On Terrorism Charges In Somalia

A senior Al-Shabaab leader who was captured last week by government troops has been executed by a military court in southern Somalia, authorities confirmed on Wednesday. Ahmed Ismail Ali, a senior Al Shabaab leader in Gedo region who was captured during the fighting between government troops and the militant group Al-Shabaab in Somalia-Kenya border town of Burdhube, was accused of being behind the killing of 28 Kenyans, many of whom were teachers, in Kenya’s border town of Mandera late last year.


Al-Shabaab fighters in December 2014 ambushed a Nairobi-bound bus and killed 28 Kenyan non-Muslim passengers and later massacred 36 quarry workers in Mandera County.

Burdhube town commissioner Hassan Mahamud Ali confirmed the execution, saying Ali was among the attackers who crossed the border after committing the heinous act in Kenya.

“We can confirm to you that Ahmed Ismail was among the people who killed teachers in Kenya,” said Mahamud. Sources said Ahmed Ismail was also among the militants assigned for the Nairobi Westgate shopping mall attack where 68 people were killed and over 200 injured in 2013.

Mohamed said the security forces are pursuing three other Al-Shabaab militants involving in the killing of deputy commissioner of Burdubo district of Gedo region Ali Matan last week.

The execution came a month after a former Al-Shabaab intelligence leader Zakariye Ismail Ahmed Hersi surrendered and is now being held by authorities.

Source: Punch