An influential Al-Shabaab leader denies he was killed by Ethiopia

Ethiopia said on Friday that it had killed three Al-Shabaab officials, including Fu'ad Shongole and the group's military spokesman, Abdulaziz Abu Musab.

News Keydmedia Online
4 August 2022

MOGADISHU, Somalia - A senior Al-Shabaab leader, who has a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head said in a speech broadcast on the group’s Andalus radio station that he is alive and doing well.

Fu'ad Mohamed Khalaf popularly known as [Shongole], denied that he was killed in the fighting in the Bakool region last week. He is an influential leader who led two attacks in Ethiopia in July.

I'm alive and well in Al-Shabaab territory. The claim by Ethiopia is a lie and propaganda," said Shongole in an audio message.

Ethiopia claimed that its military killed Al-Shabaab propagandist Fuad Shongole and the group's military spokesman, Abdulaziz Abu Musab in an airstrike near Ato, Bakool region on July 29.

Shongole vowed that Al-Shabaab will continue attacks on Ethiopia in what the security analysts believe the group's shift is a proxy war linked to the Nile dam dispute between Ethiopia and Egypt.

Sources told Keydmedia Online that Shongole performed Friday prayers in Bula Fulay, an Al-Shabaab-held town in the Bay region, on July 29. Also, Abu Musab sent audio confirming he is alive.

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