Military and armed-group figures
Aden Hashi Ayro (Aadan Xaashi Cayroow)
Aden Hashi Farah Ayro (about 1976–2008) was the first military leader of al-Shabaab. After training in Afghanistan in the 1990s and time in al-Itihaad al-Islamiya, he led the militia that helped the Islamic Courts take Mogadishu in June 2006 and then commanded all the courts' forces. Al-Qaeda named him its top figure in Somalia in 2007. He was killed with others in a US air strike on his house in Dhusamareb on 1 May 2008.
Aden Hashi AyroAden Ayro · Aadan Xaashi Cayroow
- Lived
- 1976 to 2008
- Known as one of
- Military and armed-group figures
- Era
- Rebuilding without a state, 1991 to 2012
- Sources
- 4 sources
Who was he?
Aden Hashi Ayro led the armed youth wing of the Islamic Courts that became al-Shabaab. This page records his public role from the sources, without taking sides.
Background
Wikipedia gives his birth as about 1976 and records that he trained in Afghanistan in the 1990s (Wikipedia, Aden Hashi Farah Ayro). Stanford's Mapping Militants project records that he was in al-Itihaad al-Islamiya from 1991 to 1997 and then joined the courts (Mapping Militant Organizations, al-Shabaab).
The network of 2003–2005
Wikipedia, citing the International Crisis Group, records that from 2003 he built a network of al-Itihaad veterans that the ICG linked to the killings of four foreign aid workers and at least ten Somali former military and police officers (Wikipedia). Christopher Anzalone notes that Ahmed Abdi Godane was suspected of taking part in the killings of foreigners in Somaliland in 2003–2004 alongside him (CTC Sentinel, September 2014). In July 2004 a raid on a compound he owned in Mogadishu killed his brother-in-law (Wikipedia).
The Islamic Courts, 2006
In June 2006 al-Shabaab fighters helped the Islamic Courts Union take Mogadishu, and Ayro became military chief of all the courts' forces (Wikipedia). Mapping Militants records a split inside the courts between Hassan Dahir Aweys, seen as a nationalist, and Ayro, seen as a global jihadist (Mapping Militants). See Hassan Dahir Aweys.
2007 and death
On 8 January 2007 a US gunship attack reportedly killed eight fighters linked to him; he was thought wounded. In March 2007 al-Qaeda named him its leading figure in Somalia. In August 2007 he returned briefly to Mogadishu but was asked to leave by clan elders. In December 2007 Ahmed Abdi Godane was named al-Shabaab's emir (Wikipedia).
On 1 May 2008 a US air strike on his house in Dhusamareb killed him and Sheikh Muhyadin Omar, with others (Wikipedia, citing BBC News and the Washington Post; Mapping Militants).
Sources differ
- His title. Some sources call him al-Shabaab's first emir; Wikipedia's al-Shabaab article lists Ismail Arale as emir in 2006–2007, with Ayro as military commander.
- Birth year. Given as about 1976; exact date unknown.
Read the primary sources yourself
Sources
- Wikipedia, Aden Hashi Farah Ayro · en.wikipedia.org
- Mapping Militant Organizations, al-Shabaab · mappingmilitants.org
- CTC Sentinel, September 2014 · ctc.westpoint.edu
- article · ctc.westpoint.edu
Aden Hashi AyroAden Ayro · Aadan Xaashi Cayroow
- Lived
- 1976 to 2008
- Known as one of
- Military and armed-group figures
- Era
- Rebuilding without a state, 1991 to 2012
- Sources
- 4 sources
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