Garissa University attack mastermind killed, officials say

Kenya’s most wanted man and   the Garissa University College attack mastermind have been killed after Jubbaland forces backed by Somali commandos raided an Al-Shabab base in southern Somalia.

Jubbaland Interior minister Abdirashid Noor Janan said that 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.

“As you can see we have four dead bodies of Al-Shabaab commanders including Mohamed Kuno Known as Gamadhere and Issack who was bomb expirt,” said Janan.

Another senior military official in Kismayo town identified as Abdi said 16 al-Shabaab fighters including 4 mid-level commanders were killed in Bulo-Gaduud village near Kismaayo town.

“During the course of the operation, 16 militants were killed in a single place near Kismaayo town just last night… Their weapons and ammunition were confiscated by Somali commandos,” said the official.

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 Mahamad, 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 Ubeyd

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.