Al-Shabaab confirms death of Dulyadayn
Somalia’s Al-Shabaab has confirmed the death of Kenya’s most wanted man and the Garissa University College attack mastermind who was killed earlier this month after Jubbaland forces backed by Somali commandos raided an Al-Shabab base in southern Somalia
On 1st June, Al-Shabaab commander Mohamed Kuno aka Gamadhere was killed in a well-organized operation that took place at Bula-Gaduud locality, which lies 30 kilometers outside Kismayo town in the Lower Jubba region.
A commander of the Somali-based Al-Shabaab who spoke to pro-Al-Shabaab Andalus radio confirmed that the death of Mohamed Kuno.
In a statement, the group said they will continue fighting against AMISOM and Somali forces in Somalia.
“Avenging the death of our scholars and leaders is a binding obligation on our shoulders that we will never relinquish nor forget no matter how long it takes,” the Shabaab statement said.
Last year, Kenyan government named Kuno as the Garissa University College attack mastermind and offered a Sh2m (£14,607) reward for any information that would lead to the arrest of the man.
He has several aliases, including Gamadhere, Kuno Sheikh Mohamad, Dulyadin, and Abdurahman, according to a Somali security source, and is thought to be responsible for leading al-Shabaab’s operations in Kenya.
Kuno, who was in his mid-40s and has three wives, was linked to the audacious attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi and was accused of orchestrating 12 fighters in a plot against the Kenyan parliament.
Kuno believed to have been a close friend of al-Shabaab’s leader, Ahmed Omar Abu Obeid
He was Al-Shabaab’s leader for the Juba region in Somalia – which shares a vast border with Kenya, and touches Mandera, Garissa, Wajir and Lamu counties – and was in charge of external operations against Kenya until his death.
Two of his wives reportedly live in Garissa while a third is near Ras Kamboni, a town in Jubaland.
His mother is Ralia Mohamed Wardere, alias the Iron Lady. His siblings include Abdi Yussuf Ali Adan, alias Abdi Mulla, an al-Shabaab leader who accidentally shot himself with his own pistol while demonstrating safety precaution techniques to new recruits in Kismayu. He survived the accident.
Dulyadeyn is rumoured to have built a large network of al-Shabaab sympathisers and operatives in his home country.
He joined the fighters in Somalia at the time of the Islamic Courts Union, which later metamorphosed into Al-Shabaab.
He has been on the run since December 2014, after being identified by Kenyan police as the Al-Shabaab commander who oversaw the killings of 28 Kenyans in the Makka bus attack in Mandera on 22 November last year.