Somalia: Top Al-Shabaab leader killed in air raids
Maalim Ayman, a prominent leader of the al-Shabaab terrorist group, was reported killed earlier this week in an airstrike conducted by the US African Command in Somalia, according to a statement from the Somali government.
Information Minister Daud Aweis disclosed on X that Ayman was eliminated on December 17 in a joint operation involving the Somali National Army and US forces.
“Ayman was accountable for orchestrating multiple deadly terrorist attacks in Somalia and neighboring countries,” Aweis commented.
The US Department of State’s Rewards for Justice (RFJ) program had previously offered a bounty of up to $10 million for information that could lead to the arrest or conviction of Ayman in any jurisdiction.
Ayman is known to have masterminded the January 5, 2020, terrorist attack on US and Kenyan personnel stationed at the Manda Bay Airfield in Kenya’s coastal region of Lamu.
US authorities have identified Ayman as the leader of Jaysh Ayman, a specialized unit within al-Shabaab responsible for orchestrating terror attacks and operations in both Kenya and Somalia.
In November 2020, the US State Department designated Ayman as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist.”
The attack on Manda Bay resulted in the death of a US service member and two Defense Department contractors, in addition to injuring two other US military personnel and another contractor. Al-Shabaab later claimed responsibility for the assault.
