Issa Osman Issa

Issa Osman Issa is a Somali resident, probably born in Somalia in the mid 70s’. (Some source claimed he was born in Kenya).

In 1998 Issa Osman Issa opened in Kismoayo, on the Indian Ocean in South Somalia, a lobsters fishing business with a partner - Omar Said Omar. Slowly and gradually Issa Osman Issa recruited Omar Said Omar to the cause of Global Jihad and to the affiliated group to Al Qaeda in Somalia – the “Itihad al-Islamiya” (Islamic Union) led by Sheikh Dahir Aweys.

On 11/20/2002 Issa Osman Issa and Abdul Malik smuggled across the border from Somalia to Kenya with a small boat, bought by Omar Said Omar. They left from a fishing village along the Eastern coast of Somalia, between Kismoayo port and Ras Kaambooni, near the Kenya border. In Mombasa they were joined by Saleh Ali Nabhan, a local resident of Mombasa area. The group was equipped with 2 SAM-7 “Sterla” missiles and located itself near Mombasa International Airport. After the Mombasa Paradise attack Issa Osman Issa and Abdul Malik fled back to Somalia in the same way. On the day of the Mombasa Paradise Attack, on 11/28/2002, Issa Osman Issa launched one of the missiles toward an Israeli “Arkia” airliner, when taking off from Mombasa International Airport.

After returning to Somalia Issa Osman Issa became a leading figure in a local radical Islamic “al-Shabab” (The Youth) organization, affiliated tothe Council of Islamic Courts (CIC) and commanded CIC militia near the interim capital of Baidoa.

On 03/10/2006 a special Somali force, trained by the CIA, came to arrest Issa Osman Issa in Mogadishu. He resisted arrest and blew himself with a hand grenade. (Some sources claimed that he was assembling an explosive belt for a planned suicide attack and he detonated the belt in order to kill himself and some of the arresting officers).