Africa

Kenya says it has killed al-Shabaab’s head of intelligence

Islamist insurgency group rejects claim that Mohamed Karatey died in raid last month

A screenshot posted on the US Department of State website shows a portrait of Al-Shabaab’s head of intelligence Mahad Karate, next to a €5 million bounty. Kenya’s army said on Thursday it had killed Karate. Photograph: Tony Karumba/AFP/Getty Images

Humphrey Malalo in Nairobi
Thu Feb 18 2016 - 13:04

Kenya has killed the commander of an elite unit within Somalia's al-Shabaab Islamist insurgency, a man blamed for masterminding a deadly attack on a Kenyan military camp in southern Somalia last month, the Kenyan military said on Thursday.

But al-Shabaab said the commander was still alive.

Kenyan troops, working under the African Union Mission in Somalia, killed Mohamed Karatey, al-Shabaab's deputy commander and head of intelligence, at a graduation ceremony for insurgent fighters on February 8th, the Kenya Defence Forces said in a statement.

"It is believed Karatey played a major role in the recent attack on KDF troops in El Adde by the deployment of his suicide bombers," KDF said in a statement. "His killing now adds to that of the killing of Abdi Dek, the operation commander of the Abu Zubeyr Brigade that carried out the attack in El Adde."

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The statement gave no further details on the alleged killing of Karatey but said the Kenyan military had also killed 42 al-Shabaab recruits and 10 other mid-level al-Shabaab commanders during the raid.

It was not possible to independently verify the statement.

Sheikh Abiasis Abu Musab, al-Shabaab's military operation spokesman, said the group's fighters were targeted by a bombing, but that Karatey was alive. "Mahad Karatey is alive and healthy," Abu Musab told Reuters by telephone.

Kenyan troops took heavy losses when al-Shabaab launched a dawn raid on their camp in El Adde near the Kenyan border on January 15th, although they have not disclosed exact casualty figures.

Al-Shabaab claimed the attack had killed more than 100 soldiers. The Islamist insurgents have links to al-Qaeda and seek to overthrow Somalia's weak Western-backed government and drive out the African Union soldiers supporting them.

Al-Shabaab has inflated casualty figures in the past, while other official estimates often play them down.

The unit that Karatey heads – known as Amniyat – comprises spies, suicide bombers and explosives experts.

Reuters

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