Somalia: Al-Shabaab leader speaks for the first time

[Wisdom_Seeker]

MOGADISHU, Somalia Mar 7 (Garowe Online) - The battle-hardened leader of the Somali Islamists’ al-Shabaab (“The Youth”) wing appeared in a recorded tape this week for the first time, according to our correspondent in the capital Mogadishu.

 

Adan Hashi Ayro, a young militant allegedly trained by Afghanistan’s Taliban before the U.S.-led invasion of 2001, categorically denied circulating rumors of his death.

 

“The time of my death was pre-written for me while I was still in my mother’s womb,” Ayro said on the tape. Reports that emerged in January suggested Ayro was killed or severely wounded when U.S. air strikes pounded Islamist hideouts in the Jubba regions.

 

The Islamists fled to the Jubba regions in Somalia’s deep south in early January as Ethiopian combat troops approached Kismayo, the regional capital.

 

Ayro said Ethiopian troops and African Union peacekeepers would meet nothing but death and destruction in Somalia.

 

“I will fight the troops who are enemies of my religion [islam] and who have invaded my homeland…and I am certain I will remove them by force soon,” Ayro said, as he appealed to the Somali people, especially the youth, to take up arms in a jihad against foreign occupation.

 

The first group of AU peacekeepers from Uganda arrived in Mogadishu on Tuesday, amid a festive welcoming party at the airport that was suddenly interrupted by mortar explosions.

 

Ayro said the Islamist militia have not withdrawn from Somalia, as some suggested. He said loyal fighters were scattered throughout the country and especially in major cities.

 

The young militant swore that he would die fighting against “foreign invaders” on Somali soil, and dismissed claims that the Islamists were responsible for near daily mortar raids on government targets.

 

“Mortars that hit Mogadishu homes are launched by Ethiopian troops…and the [somali] government knows this,” Ayro said, echoing similar allegations made by city residents.

 

Ayro did not disclose his exact location but said he was “inside Somalia.” Citing credible sources, Garowe Online reported last month that Ayro spoke at an anti-Ethiopia public rally in Mogadishu. [ Full story]

 

There is no known picture of Adan Hashi Ayro available for publication.

 

Source: Garowe Online

 

http://garowe.com/

[Taliban]

Originally posted by mystic:

“I will fight the troops who are enemies of my religion [islam] and who have invaded my homeland…and I am certain I will remove them by force soon,” Ayro said

Godspeed to you and the rest of the mujahideens.

[Wisdom_Seeker]

We have the 21st century Mohammed bin Abdullah Hassan on the move today.