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Somalia: Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys a senior official of the al-Shabaab militants reportedly captured
Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys. PHOTO/Abukar Albadri/EPA
Unconfirmed reports from Somalia indicate that one of the senior officials of the radical Islamist al-Shabaab, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys has been captured and taken into custody.
Sheikh Aweys had fallen out of favor with the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab leadership amid disagreements over the group’s strategy, after African Union forces removed the militants from Mogadishu and other major towns – resulting in reasonable stability.
The capture of a major principal will be seen as a major blow to the al-Shabaab group. He is a former leader of the defunct Hizbu Islam, an Islamist movement and joined the al-Shabaab in December 2010.
The United Nations Security Council had placed Aweys under sanctions in 2012, and had been designated as a “terrorist” since 2001.
Somalia has enjoyed a relative amount of stability due to the intervention of the African Union forces and the disruption of the al-Shabaab’s activities.