US Drone hits Al-Shaabab leader killed
ATIMS train Somali Police Community Policing
By Our reporter
MOGADISHU – Somali Police Force officers have begun a seven days training on community policing and crime prevention techniques at General Kaahiye Police Academy, in Mogadishu. The training comes days after a US drone hit Ayman, a senior leader of the extremist group al-Shabab, was believed responsible for attacks in Kenya on a university town that killed 148 people, and on a U.S. military base that killed three Americans.
The training, organized by ATMIS Police, is a key component of ATMIS initiative aimed at equipping Somali Police Force (SPF) with knowledge and skills essential for community safety and the overall security of Somalia.
Brig. Gen Mohamed Mohamud Mohamed, SP, Director of General Operations Command & ACP Samuel Asiedu Okanta, ATMIS Police Training & Development Coordinator reaffirmed their commitment to continue training more SPF officers in the coming year.
Maalim Ayman was killed on Dec. 17 by a U.S. Special Operations drone strike in a joint operation with the Somali national army, the officials said. He is believed to be responsible for the assault on Jan. 5, 2020, on a military base in Manda Bay, Kenya, that killed two U.S. contractor pilots and a U.S. soldier. A third U.S. contractor and two other U.S. service members were injured. Six U.S. aircraft were destroyed in the attack.
Somalia, a strategic nation located in the Horn of Africa, has been fending off attacks since 2006 by the extremist group al-Shabab, with the assistance of forces from the African Union and the United States. Mr. Ayman was believed to be the mastermind of a unit that launched attacks inside Kenya, Somalia’s southern neighbor.
Officially, the U.S. Africa Command, while confirming the strike in Somalia, did not identify the target, pending further analysis, the command said in a statement. But a U.S. military official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters, said the strike successfully targeted Mr. Ayman. Somalia’s information minister confirmed the killing of Mr. Ayman.
Somalia’s president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, has vowed to defeat the Shabab militarily and financially. Even though al-Shabab (which is linked to the Qaeda terrorist group) has lost territory and fighters in recent years, it has proved to be resilient and continues to carry out deadly attacks in hotels, restaurants and ministries that have left hundreds dead.
Mr. Ayman was also said to have planned the attack in 2015 on Garissa University in northeastern Kenya, which resulted in the deaths of 148 people, most of them students. After storming the university at dawn, the gunmen shot point-blank at students, many of whom were asleep in their dormitories.
It was the deadliest terrorist attack in Kenya since the 1998 bombing of the U.S. embassy in the capital, Nairobi, which left more than 200 people dead and thousands more injured.
Earlier this month, the United Nations Security Council unanimously lifted the arms embargo that was imposed in 1992 after civil war broke out in Somalia. The Somali president welcomed the move, saying at a security conference in New York that it was testimony to the progress his administration has made.
