SIX senior foreign al Shabaab leaders are among 57 members of the al QAeda linked militia who were killed in the Kenya Defence Forces air strike on Gedo region last Thursday.Intelligence sources in Somalia yesterday confirmed that key foreign al Shabaab commanders Imran Abu Jilali from Pakistan, Sh. Abdalla Al Manzur from Egypt, Alakim Nurala from Sudan, Abdul Hakim Mohamud an al Qaeda leader from Yemen and Shukri Bin Khalifa also from Yemen were killed in the Kenya Defence Forces F-5 jet air strike on Birta Dheere, in Garabarhey within Gedo area.
According to the intelligence sources, Al Amud Bin Ibrahim, a senior al Shabaab commander respected by the terror group's leader Ahmed Godana, the outgoing al Shabaab Gedo region commander and Fara Dheere, the incoming commander were also killed in the attack. The KDF attack targeted Godane, who left thirty minutes before the bombs were dropped. The KDF conducted three air strikes on the target.
"Ahmed Godane was the target but he narrowly escaped the strike by sheer luck. He left a few minutes before the air strike.The al Shabaab leaders were holding a regional command change over meeting at Garabarhey. Gamadhere Mohammed, a Kenyan from Garissa might have died or sustained injuries during the attack. He is responsible for terrorist attacks in Kenya," said a source who sought anonymity for fear of retribution.
Two Kenyan members of the insurgent group identified as Adan Adow and and Idris Dheere were confirmed dead while another Kenyan from Garissa and who is linked to all the insurgent group's attack on Kenyan soil, identified as Gama Dhere Mohammed, is suspected to have either been killed or sustained injuries during the attack. 120 al Shabaab fighters were injured and five technicals and three buses destroyed.
The air strike was conducted on after an Amisom intelligence gathering exercise that tracked down the al Shabaab leaders' movement.