Mohammed, a citizen of Kenya and Comoros, for a long time was sought in Somalia for his alleged involvement in the bombings of 1998 of the embassies of U.S. Kenya and Tanzania.
The Secretary of State for United States Hillary Clinton called for the death of Mohammed "a significant blow to Al Qaeda and its extremist allies operations in East Africa".
"It is a final right for a terrorist who brought so much death and pain to so many innocent people in Nairobi, Dar es Salaam and elsewhere - Tanzanians, Kenyans, Somalis, others in the region and our own staff of the Embassy", said.
Mohammed was arrested at a roadblock by the forces of the Somali Transitional Government, but he quickly, causing the troops to shoot him, a senior official in neighboring Kenya, said.
"We commend the good work (Transitional Government)." Death of Fazul eliminates one of the most experienced operational planners of the terrorist group in East Africa and probably has back operations, said a high American official, who was not authorized to speak on the record.
Meanwhile, the Commander of the forces of the Somali Government confirmed that two men driving through a checkpoint in Mogadishu Southwest end Wednesday were killed when they opened fire on soldiers there.
One of the men was a foreigner and his identity was under investigation, said the general Abdikarin Dhega Badans.
Somalia, Abdirahman Omar Osman, information Minister confirmed on Saturday at CNN that Mohammed was one of the dead, describing it as a "great success" for his country's security forces.
But Osman said despite the success, Somalia needed "the support of the international community to defeat al - Shabab," referring to a group linked to Al Qaeda that controls much of the country.
A woman accompanying Mohammed was arrested after the shooting, according to sources from the Government of Somalia. The woman told authorities that men believed that they were crossing a checkpoint Al - Shabab, rather than a point of State control.
The sources said that the two men seemed to have modern weapons in his possession together with $40,000 in cash.
The bodies were then handed over to US authorities for testing DNA, the same sources.
United States Mohammed considered a senior al Qaida operative in East Africa, accusing him of being an architect of the Embassy bombing which killed 225 people.
U.S. officials also believe Mohammed was involved in the attacks in a hotel of Israeli property and the airliner in Kenya in 2002 and have offered a reward of up to $ 5 million for information leading to his capture or conviction.
The President of United States Barack Obama in national security adviser issued a statement Saturday calling for the death of Mohammed "another huge blow to Al Qaeda and its extremist allies".
John Brennan added that the death "provides a measure of Justice to many who have lost loved ones because of the actions of this terrorist".
In the past, Mohammed has managed to escape capture several times. He dodged a police raid of 2008 in the Kenyan coastal town of Malindi. And in early 2007, an attack led by U.S. in Somalia did not kill him. In 2003, the Kenyan police also said that he escaped to the authorities.
In December 2007, the UN Security Council amended a list of suspects of Al-Qaeda 25 subject to sanctions, including Mohammed. Description of Mohammed offers numerous aliases and said that he "would have undergone surgery."
The description of the FBI said Mohammed was born in the Comoros Islands, which are to the East of Mozambique, and has used birth dates indicating that he was born in 1972 or 1974.Zain Verjee CNN and Ed Henry and journalist Mohammed Amiin Adow contributed to this report.
No comments:
Post a Comment