“The men responsible for the killing are: Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys; Hassan Mohamud Takar; Abdullahi Ali Hashi; and Abdullahi Raabi,” said Al-Ictisam chairman Sheikh Bashir Ahmed Salad in Mogadishu.
Puntland blames Al Shabaab
On Monday, Puntland President Abdirahman Mohamed Farole condemned terrorists for killing Sheikh Ahmed in Bossaso moments after the late scholar walked out of a mosque.
President Farole named several Al Shabaab leaders, including some from Puntland such as Hassan Mohamud Takar, Abdullahi Ali Hashi and Jama Abdisalam, as being responsible for the killing of the Islamic scholar in Puntland. President Farole said Al Shabaab leaders “met in Baidoa and declared to target scholars and increase the violence across Somalia.”
Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, an Islamist hardliner who is on U.S. and U.N. watch-lists, said Puntland’s leader had a “quick reaction” by blaming Al Shabaab group.
Aweys said Al Shabaab’s meeting in Baidoa was about “liberating Somalia from African invaders,” a reference to the 9,000-strong African Union peacekeeping force serving in Mogadishu.
Al Shabaab denies killing scholar
Also on Monday, Hassan Mohamud Takar, a member of Al Shabaab group who is a British citizen, told supporters that “PIS killed Sheikh Ahmed Haji Abdirahman.”
The PIS, whose name was reestablished in 2010 as the Puntland Intelligence Agency (PIA), is Puntland’s elite counter-terrorism unit that is supported by foreign intelligence services.
Takar’s son is currently serving jail time in Puntland on terrorism charges.
Takar and other Al Shabaab leaders concluded a meeting in the southern town of Baidoa last week, where they declared to bolster their war against the UN-backed TFG of Somalia and its allies, such as Puntland, Ethiopia, Kenya and the African Union.
Further, the Al Shabaab leaders said they changed the group’s name to Islamic Emirate of Somalia, vowing to establish an Islamist state in areas of southern Somalia controlled by Al Shabaab.
The Baidoa meeting excluded Al Shabaab chief Ahmed Godane and the foreign fighters, who form a sizeable component of Al Shabaab’s fighting ranks.
In 2010, Puntland security forces fought a three-month war against Al Shabaab militants in Galgala mountains which concluded after government forces overrun the militant bases. The government enacted a Counterterrorism Law and several Al Shabaab members have been jailed, sentenced or executed under the new law.
GAROWE ONLINE
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| Sheikh Abdulkadir Nur Farah |
Sheikh Abdulkadir Nur Farah, a well-respected Islamic scholar in Puntland, told the VOA Somali Service that the late Sheikh Ahmed Haji Abdirahman was a great scholar and a good friend.
“I send my condolences to the family of the deceased who was killed by a hand of injustice. He was a great scholar,” said Sheikh Abdulkadir, who was one of the leaders of the Al-Itihad Al-Islami (Islamic Unity) movement of Somalia in the early 1990s.
Sheikh Abdulkadir said: “Al Shabaab group is responsible for killing the Sheikh. We will not accept false reasons such as Puntland Intelligence Service (PIS) killed the Sheikh. The Sheikh's killing is linked to the conclusion of the meeting in Baidoa city.”
Another Somali Islamic leader, Sheikh Bashir Ahmed Salad in Mogadishu, told the VOA Somali Service that Al Shabaab is responsible for Sheikh Ahmed’s killing. Sheikh Bashir is chairman of Al-Ictisam group – which is made of former Al-Itihad Al-Islami members.
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| Sheikh Dahir Ahmed Haji |
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