Somalia InformationMinister Abdulkareem Jama Said DNA Tests Confirmed That AlQaeda Leader Was Killed

[Liibaan]

Somalia Information Minister Abdulkareem Hassan Jama said DNA tests confirmed that Mohammed was killed.

 

"His killing is removal of a problem, a person that was causing death and destruction to the people of Somalia, the region and the world," he said.

 

 

Associated Press

 

 

MOGADISHU, Somalia -- A Kenyan man blinded in an al-Qaida attack on a U.S. Embassy 13 years ago said Sunday he welcomed news of the death of the mastermind who planned the blasts in Kenya and Tanzania, as Somalis said they hoped his death in their war-torn country would bring peace.

 

Somali officials announced Saturday that their soldiers killed Fazul Abdullah Mohammed at a checkpoint in the capital, Mogadishu, on Tuesday.

 

The death of Mohammed - a man who topped the FBI's most wanted list for nearly 13 years for planning the Aug. 7, 1998, bombings in Kenya and Tanzania - is the third major strike in six weeks against the worldwide terror group that was headed by Osama bin Laden until his death last month.

 

Mohammed had been on the run for more than a decade with a $5 million bounty on his head. He was thought to be hiding in Somalia, whose ineffective government has been unable to stop terror groups from operating.

 

Somali Information Minister Abdulkareem Hassan Jama said DNA tests confirmed that Mohammed was killed.

 

"His killing is removal of a problem, a person that was causing death and destruction to the people of Somalia, the region and the world," he said.

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Douglas Sidialo, who was blinded by the bombing in Kenya's capital of Nairobi, said he welcomed the news.

 

"God the creator has delivered Fazul Abdullah Mohammed to his destiny the same way he delivered bin Laden to his destiny," he said. "When you kill by the sword, bullets and bombs you die through a similar tragedy."

 

Thousands were wounded when a pickup truck rigged as a bomb exploded outside the four-story U.S. Embassy building. Within minutes, another bomb shattered the U.S. mission in Tanzania's commercial capital, Dar es Salaam.

 

Sidialo added: "Killing terrorists only breeds more terrorists. We must find a lasting solution to this menace."

 

In Somalia, residents of the capital said they hoped Mohammed's death would bring peace after decades of conflict.

 

"I am undoubtedly happy with his death because he was a killer, a plotter and a violence organizer," said Ali Abdi, 27, a trader. "The death of a blood-absorber like Fazul will help peace and demoralize terrorism. As Somalis, we suffered a lot as the result of actions like his violent ones."

 

Somali civilians are regularly caught in the crossfire between militants and forces defending the U.N.-backed government. The top militant group, al-Shabab, also uses harsh punishments, such as executions, in a bid to coerce the public into submission.

 

Representatives of al-Shabab did not immediately confirm Mohammed's death.

 

On Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton - who was on a visit to Tanzania as Somali officials confirmed Mohammed's death - called the killing a "significant blow to al-Qaida, its extremist allies, and its operations in East Africa.

 

"It is a just end for a terrorist who brought so much death and pain to so many innocents in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam and elsewhere - Tanzanians, Kenyans, Somalis, and our own embassy personnel," Clinton said.

 

Mohammed was killed Tuesday but was carrying a South African passport, so Somali officials didn't immediately realize who he was. The body was even buried. Officials later exhumed it.

 

Mohammed's death is the third major blow against al-Qaida in the last six weeks. Navy SEALs killed bin Laden on May 2 at his home in Pakistan. Just a month later, Ilyas Kashmiri, an al-Qaida leader sought in the 2008 Mumbai siege and rumored to be a longshot choice to succeed bin Laden, was reportedly killed in a U.S. drone attack in Pakistan.

 

The strike against Kashmiri was not the direct result of intelligence material seized from the bin Laden compound, U.S. and Pakistan officials say. If the account of the killing at the security checkpoint killing is confirmed, it would appear Mohammed's death is also not the result of new intelligence.

 

Somalia has been mired in violence since 1991. Militants are trying to topple the weak, U.N.-backed government.

 

Associated Press Television News cameramen and editors Josphat Kasire and Joe Mwihia contributed to this report from Nairobi.

 

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[Taleexi]

The murder of this individual is good news.

[Liibaan]

US secretary of State Hillary Clinton © is being received by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and international Cooperation, Bernard Member (L) and US Ambassador to Tanzania, Alfonso E. Lenhadrt.

 

 

 

 

Clinton: Death of Embassy Bombing Suspect Big Blow to al-Qaida

 

 

 

Scott Stearns | Dar es Salaam June 12, 2011

 

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton talks with Zambia's President Rupiah Banda during her visit to the newly opened University Teaching Hospital Pediatric Centre of Excellence, in Lusaka, Zambia, June 11, 2011

Photo: AP

 

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton talks with Zambia's President Rupiah Banda during her visit to the newly opened University Teaching Hospital Pediatric Centre of Excellence, in Lusaka, Zambia, June 11, 2011

 

 

 

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the death of a man suspected of organizing the 1998 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania is a significant blow to al-Qaida.

 

Secretary Clinton says Harun Fazul's death is “a significant blow to al-Qaida, its extremist allies, and its operations in East Africa.” After laying flowers at a memorial for the 12 Tanzanians killed here in Dar es Salaam, Clinton spoke to a small gathering of embassy staff. “Some of you lost your friends and loved ones, and all Americans grieved with you then, and we have not forgotten your losses. And we have also not forgotten our pledge to seek justice against those who would commit such atrocities," she said.

 

Clinton says al-Qaida suffered a major setback last month with the death of Osma bin Laden and has now suffered another significant blow with Harun Fazul's death in Somalia. “He was actually one of the men, if not the leader, of those responsible for the attacks on this embassy and the bombing of our embassy in Nairobi and many other despicable acts that killed hundreds and wounded thousands of people - Tanzanians, Kenyans, Somali, and our own embassy personnel," she said.

 

Clinton says nothing can replace those killed by what she calls “such senseless violence,” but she says she knows justice was served and hopes that gives some measure of comfort.

 

Somali authorities say the man believed to be al-Qaida's leader in East Africa, who is also known as Fazul Mohammed, was killed during a confrontation with police in Mogadishu. The police say he was carrying thousands of dollars in cash and multiple identity documents, including a suspicious South African passport.

 

Because of his suspected involvement in the Nairobi and Dar es Salaam bombings, the United States offered a $5-million reward for his capture.

 

President Obama's assistant for homeland security and counterterrorism, John Brennan, says the death is a measure of justice to so many who lost loved ones because of his actions. Brennan says the Obama administration commends the efforts of Somali government forces, “whose actions against Fazul struck a significant blow against those in the region seeking to carry out terrorist attacks.”

 

The bombing of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania 13 years ago killed 224 people and wounded nearly 5,000 others. Bombs exploded in the two capitals minutes apart, without advance warning, and security officials quickly determined the coordinated attack was carried out by the al-Qaida network.

 

Four men involved in the attacks were convicted in the United States and sentenced to life in prison, but U.S. authorities were still actively seeking Fazul Mohammed and other suspects.

[Liibaan]

US hails death of al-Qaeda's Africa head

 

Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, hailed the death of the suspected head of al-Qaeda in east Africa and the man held responsible for American embassy bombings in the 1990s.

 

By Aislinn Laing, Johannesburg

 

4:58PM BST 12 Jun 2011

 

Fazul Abdullah Mohammed was gunned down by Somali government troops, after he refused to stop at a roadblock in the capital Mogadishu last week.

 

Mrs Clinton said it was a "just end" for the man accused of bomb attacks on the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania which killed 224 people in 1998.

 

The 38-year-old Comoran's death is also seen as a rare victory for the Western-backed Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, which is fighting al-Shebab Islamic militants linked to al-Qaeda for control of the east African country.

 

On Friday, the organisation claimed the life of Somalia's Interior Minister in a suicide bombing said to have been carried out by his own niece, who had allegedly joined al-Shebab. The suicide attack was the third in Mogadishu in less than two weeks.

 

Mohammed died in an exchange of fire at midnight on Tuesday in Somalia, where he fled along with several suspects of the embassy bombings to take advantage of the country's chaotic state. The confrontation came just weeks after Osama bin Laden was killed by American troops in Pakistan. He is the second top level leader to be killed since the US retrieved a cache of bin Laden's notes and communications with al Qaeda commanders.

 

Also known as Harun, he spoke five languages and was said to be a master of disguise, forgery and bomb making who had at least 18 aliases and masqueraded as an itinerant Islamic preacher.

 

Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, Somalia's president, praised government soldiers manning the checkpoint for killing Mohammed and Mohammed Dere, a Kenyan extremist who was travelling with him in a car loaded with medicine, laptops and mobile phones.

 

He said that as well as the embassy attacks, Mohammed had been linked to attacks in Somalia. He said his death could also lead to a breakthrough in the battle against Islamic extremists in the country and showed documents, pictures and videos recovered from Mohammed's car which could provide vital intelligence.

 

Mohammed was carrying documents with the signature of Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, one of the top leaders of al-Shebab, the government said.

 

He also had on him £25,000 in cash, and was said to be travelling on a South African passport identifying him as Daniel Robinson, aged 40.

 

Gen. Abdikarim Yusuf Dhagabadan, Somalia's deputy army chief, said officials at first did not know that the person they killed was one of the FBI's most wanted terrorists, with a £3.5 million bounty on his head.

 

"We buried him," he said. "But soon after checking his documents, we exhumed his body and took his pictures and DNA. Then we had learned that he was the man wanted by the US authorities."

 

Dhagabadan described the death as "similar to Osama bin Laden's," the al-Qaeda chief killed by the Americans in Pakistan last month. "He was worse to us than bin Laden," he said. "It is a victory for the world. It is a victory for Somali army."

 

The confirmation of his death came the day before Mrs Clinton was due to lay flowers at a memorial for the dead on the grounds of the new embassy in Dar es-Salaam, Tanzania, on the second leg of her Africa tour.

 

"I know nothing can replace those who have been taken from us by such senseless violence. But I know justice was served and I hope that that gives you some measure of comfort," she told the crowd.