Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Head of al-Shabaab's Intelligence/Security Directorate Not So Intelligent/Secure

I just wish Abdul Haji had been there to see it.
From Reuters:

U.S. confirms drone strike killed al Shabaab leader in Somalia
An unmanned U.S. aircraft that unleashed Hellfire missiles at a vehicle in Somalia earlier this week killed a leader of the al Shabaab militant group, dealing a setback to its ability to carry out anti-government attacks, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.

Rear Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said in a note on Twitter the department could now "confirm that Tahliil Abdishakur, chief of al Shabaab's intelligence and security wing, was killed in a U.S. air strike in Somalia on 29 December."

The Pentagon said in a statement that Abdishakur was responsible for the group's external operations and "his death will significantly impact al Shabaab's ability to conduct attacks against the government of the Federal Republic of Somalia, the Somali people and U.S. allies and interests."...MORE

Abdishakur was one of the guys behind the recent murders in Kenya and was the plotter of the massacre at Nairobi's Westgate Shopping Mall in 2013.

Haji was one of the heroes of Westgate, a civilian charging into the mall with a ridiculously small handgun against the terrorist's automatic rifles and explosives.

He is credited with helping to save a few dozen people.
Battle: Haji, along with other armed police, helped some of the 1,000 people who escaped the Westgate mall get to safety in the early stages of what became a bloody four-day siege
RT Abdul Haji ml 130927 16x9 608 Kenyan Heros Harrowing Tale of Rescues in Mall Massacre 

As we've noted a couple times, bummer for Abdishakur about the misreading of the 72 virgins thing:

A Good Day

14 terror suspects mistakenly kill themselves