Al Shabaab Leader Role Call

Emirs


Sheikh Aden Hashi Farah "Eyrow" (2007–2008) Dead
Sheikh Mukhtar Robow "Abu Mansoor" (2008–2009)[16] Dismissed but still around
Sheikh Moktar Ali Zubeyr "Godane" (2009–present) Current Leader


Foreign Leaders

Fazul Abdullah Mohammed: Fazul, a Kenyan, was appointed by Osama bin Laden as al Qaeda's leader in East Africa in late 2009. Before the death of Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, Fazul served as the military operations chief for al Qaeda in East Africa. Fazul is an experienced al Qaeda leader who is known to be able to move in and out of East African countries with ease. In August 2008, he slipped a police dragnet in Kenya. Fazul has been sheltering in Somalia with Shabaab and the Islamic Courts for years. Fazul is considered to be Shabaab's military leader, while

*Sheikh Muktar Abdelrahman Abu Zubeyr is Shabaab's spiritual leader.
Shaykh Muhammad Abu Fa'id: Fai'd, a Saudi citizen, serves as a top financier and a "manager" for Shabaab.

Abu Sulayman Al Banadiri: Banadiri is a Somali of Yemeni descent. He serves as a top adviser to Zubeyr, and trained in an al Qaeda camp in Afghanistan.

Abu Musa Mombasa: Mombasa, a Pakistani citizen, serves as Shabaab's chief of security and training.

Abu Mansoor Al-Amriki: Amriki, whose real name is Omar Hammami, is a US citizen who converted to Islam and traveled to Somalia in 2006. Once in Somalia, he quickly rose through the ranks, and now serves as a military commander, recruiter, financier, and propagandist. Amriki appears in several Shabaab propaganda tapes. Hammami has become a primary recruiter for Al Shabaab; he has issued written statements on behalf of Al Shabaab and has appeared in the terror organization's propaganda videos and audio recordings. An indictment unsealed in August 2010 charged him with providing material support to terrorists.[37]

Mahmud Mujajir: Mujajir, a Sudanese citizen, is Shabaab's chief of recruitment for suicide bombers.

Abdifatah Aweys Abu Hamza: Hamza is a Somali national who trained in Afghanistan. He is the commander of the Mujahideen of Al Quds, or Shabaab's Jerusalem Brigade, a military formation.

One who was not mentioned but reported by the Long War Journal is

Issa Osman Issa: Issa serves as a top al Qaeda recruiter and military strategist for Shabaab. Before joining Shabaab, Issa participated in the simultaneous attacks on the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in 1998, and has been described as a central player in the simultaneous attacks on the Paradise Hotel in Kikambala, Kenya, in 2002, and the attempt to down an Israeli airliner in Mombassa also in 2002.

Somali Leaders


Sheikh Mukhtar Robow "Abu Mansoor" — Deputy Leader and former official spokesman.[17]
Sheikh Xasan Xuseen – Spiritual Leader [18]
Sheikh Hussein Ali Fidow — Political Chief [19]
Sheikh Ali Mohamud Raghe "Dheere" — Official Spokesman[20]
Sheikh Ibrahim Haji Jama Mee'aad "al-Afghani" (Abubakar al-Seyli'i) - Leader (Governor) of the Kisimayo administration [20]
Sheikh Hassan Yaqub Ali — Official spokesman of the Kisimayo administration[20]
Sheik Ali Mohamed Hussein — Leader (Governor) of Banaadir region (Mogadishu)
Sheikh Abdirahman Hassan Hussein — Leader (Governor) of the Middle Shabelle region[21]
Sheikh Hassan Abdullah Hersi "al-Turki" — Leader of the Ras Kamboni Brigades which controls the Juba Valley and was first part of Hizbul Islam but merged with al-Shabaab in 2010.[22]
Sheikh Mohamed Said Atom - Warlord who in July 2010 announced allegiance to al-Shabaab and the al-Shabaab commander in Puntland.[23]

The Rest @ Wilkipedia

Issa Osmana Issa Captured?

Unconfirmed reports that Issa Osmana Issa, who killed himself in March of 2006 when almost captured by the US in Somalia, was in fact captured and not killed.


-Shimron Issachar

Any comments?

November 20, 2008HP-1283

Washington, DC--The U.S. Department of the Treasury today designated three members of al-Shabaab, a violent and brutal extremist group in Somalia.

"Today's action targets three leaders of al-Shabaab, an al Qaida-linked terrorist group that uses lethal tactics to undermine peace and civil society in Somalia,"

said Adam Szubin, director of Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control. "These terrorist commanders have had direct involvement in the kidnappings and cold-blooded murders of numerous Somali officials and civilians and they should be cut off from the world's financial system."

Al-Shabaab has used intimidation and violence to undermine the Somali government and threaten civil society activists working to bring about peace through political dialogue and reconciliation. It has claimed responsibility for shooting Deputy District Administrators in Somalia and for several bombings and shootings in Mogadishu targeting Ethiopian troops and Somali government officials.

In addition to attacks that have killed or wounded various Somali government officials, al­-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the February 6, 2008 bombings in Boosaaso, Puntland, which killed 22 Ethiopian civilians and wounded 66.

Further, a number of al-Shabaab members are affiliated with al Qaida, and many of al-Shabaab's senior leaders are believed to have trained and fought with al Qaida in Afghanistan.

The U.S. Department of State named al-Shabaab as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist on February 26, 2008.

Today's action was taken pursuant to Executive Order 13224, which targets terrorists and those providing support to terrorists or acts of terrorism.

• Any assets these individuals hold under U.S. jurisdiction are frozen
• U.S. persons are prohibited from engaging in any transactions with the designees.
  

Identifying Information
AHMED ABDI AW-MOHAMED

AKAs:

• Ahmed Abdi Aw MohammedMuktar
• Abdulrahim Abuzubair
• Shaykh Mukhtar
• Abu Zubeyr
• Godani Godane

• DOB: 10 July 1977
• POB: Hargeysa, Somalia
• Nationality: Somali
  

Ahmed Abdi aw-Mohamed is the founder and a current leader of al-Shabaab.

• He claimed his group was responsible for the May 2007 assassination of a judge in Beledweyne, Somalia, and in March 2007 he coordinated attacks on Ethiopian troops in Somalia.
• Aw-Mohamed has also served as a conduit for financing to al-Shabaab.
  

ISSA OSMAN ISSA

AKA:

• Musse
• Abdullah Bur
• Abdullah Atto
• Abdala Sudani
• Afadey

• DOB: 1973
• POB: Malindi, Kenya
• Nationality: Kenyan

Issa Osman Issa has a leadership role in al-Shabaab and has served as a commander of al­-Shabaab forces in Somalia.

• In late April 2007, Issa led a militia assault against Mogadishu's Basil Hotel, which was often frequented by Ugandan peacekeepers.
• He also was reportedly involved in recruiting an individual to carry out a successful April 2007 suicide attack against the Ethiopian military presence in Afgooye, Somalia.
• Before al-Shabaab's creation, Issa was one of the operatives who fired the surface-to-air missiles used in the failed 2002 attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner in Mombasa, Kenya.
• Issa was also involved in the planning of the near-simultaneous attack in 2002 against the Paradise Hotel in Kikambala, Kenya, in which a vehicle-borne explosive device struck the hotel, killing 12 and injuring 40.
  

MUKHTAR ROBOW

AKAs:

• Mukhtar Ali Rubu
• Mukhtar Abdullahi Ali
• Mujahid Mukhtar Robow Ali
• Shaykh Mukhtar Robo Ali
• Abu Mansur
• Abu Mansour

• DOB: 1969 ALT. DOB: 10 October 1969*
• POB: Xudur, Somalia
• ALT. POB: Keren, Eritrea
• *Nationality: Eritrean*
• National ID No.: 1372584
• Kenya*Passport No: 0310857, Eritrea, issued 21 August 2006, expires 20 August 2008*

*This identifying information is derived from an Eritrean passport issued under the alias name of Mukhtar Abdullahi Ali.

• Mukhtar Robow serves as al-Shabaab's spokesperson, communicating to the press and public on its behalf. He has also served as al-Shabaab's spiritual leader and as its military commander in Southern Somalia.
• As an al-Shabaab military commander, Robow has targeted Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG), Ethiopian and African Union troops in Somalia.
• In December 2007, Robow's al-Shabaab forces attacked military bases of the Somali government forces, Ethiopian forces and African Union peacekeepers in Mogadishu.
• In addition, Robow and former al­-Shabaab leader Aden Hashi Ayrow (deceased) were responsible for the November 2006 suicide attack against a TFG checkpoint in Baidoa, Somalia. The attack killed at least eight and wounded four.
  

The Rest @ the US Treasury Department, Office of Foreign Asset Control

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).