|
Shaboobs deny number 3's got whacked in air strike
 A senior al-Shabab commander has made a public appearance to deny claims that he and another group leader were killed in US air strikes last week at a training camp in southern Somalia.
Washington said on Monday it had carried out several strikes in Somalia’s Hiiraan region, in which it claimed more than 150 of the al-Qaeda-linked group’s fighters had been killed. Somali officials said later on Monday that five al-Shabab commanders had been killed in Saturday’s attack, including Mohamed Mire, the group’s Hiiraan governor, and Yusuf Ali Ugas, al-Shabab’s former Hiiraan chief.
But Mire appeared on Thursday in the village of Buqa Qabe – in the same province the air strikes took place – to dismiss the claims.
“It is all lies. They said I was among those killed. But I’m here and doing well as you can see,” he told a crowd that had gathered to see the public execution of a man the group accused of being a Somali government soldier.
| "No one higher than a number 6 was killed. That's a lieutenant in Stratego!" |
“It is all propaganda. America is losing this war and that is why they now have to resort to guerrilla tactic,” Mire added, in reference to a Wednesday morning raid on the town of Awdhegle – 50km south of the capital Mogadishu – by joint US and Somali special forces.
Posted by: Steve White 2016-03-11 |
