One high ranking al-Shabaab leader was killed by declared US and Somali airstrikes near Haramka in Middle Juba on October 1, 2022. Local sources also reported that another man named Ibrahim Hassan Dahir was also killed but are conflicted as to his status as a militant or civilian.
According to AFP, a top al-Shabaab leader named Abdullahi Yare who had a $3.0 million US bounty on his head was killed by a joint airstrike near Haramka. AFP described Yare as a co-founder of the group who was believed to be next in line to take over the leadership of the movement from the current chief Ahmed Diriye, who has been in charge since 2015. Garowe Online added that Yare had been in hiding and the Long War Journal quoted the Somali government in noting that he was acting as the head of al-Shabaab’s da’wah (proselytizing) department at the time of his death.
The Somali Ministry of Information said that “this leader… was the head preacher of the group and one of the most notorious members of the Shabab group. He was former head of the Shura council and the group’s director for finances.” @MOISOMALIA (Twitter for the Ministry of Information) posted that “Abdullahi Nadir, a top leader of #Alshabab terrorists” was killed by “Somali National Army and international security partners.”
Local sources, including @dhoorebbc, reported that in addition to Yare, the airstrike also killed Ibrahim Hassan Dahir. @InsightInstitue tweeted that Ibrahim is the son of Hassan Dahir Aweys, a former extremist leader who is currently under house arrest and that Hassan is the brother in law of Yare.
Sources were conflicted as to whether Ibrahim Hassan Dahir was a militant or a civilians. Various posts on Somalispot reported about Ibrahim, with one stating that Yare and Ibrahim were traveling together and “Dahir Aweys son was called by Shabaab from Muqdisho to treat injured terrorists” while another stated that “Ibrahim Hassan was a professor and known to be a relatively normal guy who just owned farms and wasn’t known to be affiliated with Shabaab that went about his business.” Another post wrote that because “Abudullahi Nadir guy – who was reported to be married to the sister of Sheekh Hassan Dahir Aweys – the son of Hassan Dahir Aweys was under surveillance for both American and Somali intelligence services” and that “it doesn’t look like the son of Hassan Dahir Aweys was the target himself.”
@OmarKiyow tweeted that Ibrahim had recently graduated from university and owned farmland in the area of the strike. A tweet from @Lowkey0nline also refers to Ibrahim as being a civilian and lists his title as “Dr. Ibrahim Hassan”.
AFRICOM released a statement October 3rd, two days after the incident, that “In coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia, U.S. Africa Command conducted an airstrike against the al-Shabaab militant network in Somalia on October 1. The strike occurred near Jilib, about 370 kilometers southwest of Mogadishu. The command’s initial assessment is that the strike killed an al-Shabaab leader and that no civilians were injured or killed.” The majority of other sources that reported on the incident identified the location as near Haramka, which is about 50 miles from Jilib.
The Long War Journal noted that al-Shabaab has not yet commented on Yare’s reported death.
On March 10, 2023, in their quarterly civilian harm report, AFRICOM deemed this incident “unsubstantiated,” stating that “On Oct. 1, 2022, U.S. Africa Command received one (1) report from an online media source stating two (2) civilians were killed and as a result of a U.S. military operation in the vicinity of Jilib, Somalia on Oct. 1, 2022. After review, the report was assessed as unsubstantiated. On Oct. 1, 2022 an airstrike was conducted against two al-Shabaab members. The airstrike on Oct. 1, 2022 targeted Abdullah Yare, an al-Shabaab commander who planned and coordinated attacks against partner forces in the region. Multiple U.S. intelligence reports, compiled over the course of several years, confirmed the individual was an al-Shabaab commander. The airstrike occurred in an open area where the effects of the strike were limited to the targeted individual and the al-Shabaab associate in the vehicle.”
The local time of the incident is unknown.
