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Fuad Qalaf

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Fu'aad Mohamed Shangole
Born (1965-03-28) March 28, 1965 (age 59)
Mogadishu, Somalia
NationalitySomali Swedish
Known forOfficial of Al-Shabaab

Fuad Mohamed Qalaf (Somali: Fu'aad Maxamed Khalaf, Arabic: فؤاد محمد خلف; born 28 March 1965), also known as Fuad Shangole,[1] is a Somali-Swedish militant who is a senior member of Al-Shabaab.

Working as a cleric in Sweden during the 90s and early 2000s, he returned to Somalia in 2004 and eventually became a senior figure within the Islamic Courts Union (ICU). Following the collapse of the ICU during the Ethiopian invasion of 2006 he fled Somalia but returned to become a top official within Al-Shabaab.[1] Qalaf was the first senior Al-Shabaab official to publicly criticize the groups leader Ahmed Abdi Godane.[2] In 2012, the United States government put out a bounty on Qalaf.[3]

Presently he holds a seat on Al-Shabaab's Shura Council and is believed to head the groups operations in Puntland state.[4] He helped lead al-Shabaab's invasion of Ethiopia during 2022.

Biography

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Born in Mogadishu,[4] Qalaf came to Sweden as an asylum seeker in 1992 and later received Swedish citizenship.[5][6] Qalaf comes from the Harti sub-clan of the wider Darod.[4] He lived in Sweden for twelve years, most of the time preaching as an Imam at mosque in the Rinkeby district in Stockholm (Swedish: Rinkebymoskén).[5][6][7] As such, he worked to influence young Muslims about Jihad.[5] He was openly sympathetic towards al-Qaeda and collected money towards financing the Islamic Courts Union in Somalia as well as recruiting youth to both the Islamic Courts Union and later also to al-Shabaab. He was also a prolific lecturer at the Bellevue Mosque in Gothenburg.[7]

In 2004, Qalaf returned to Somalia together with his family during the rise of the Islamic Courts Union.[5] Following the conquest of Mogadishu in mid-2006, Qalaf went on to serve in the Department of Education under the newly formed ICU-government.[5][6] After the Ethiopian invasion of Somalia in December 2006 and the subsequent fall of the ICU-government, Qalaf and other ICU leaders fled the country.[8] In April 2007 he was reported to be living in Kenya.[5] Qalaf returned to Somalia again during 2007/2008 to be a prominent leader in Al-Shabaab. He was alleged to be behind the killing of Aisha Duhulow in Kismayo during late 2008.[7] In 2010 he was the target of two different assassination attempts. Hizbul Islam, an Islamist group then rivaling Al-Shabaab, reportedly targeted him with a road side bomb in February of that year. In May he was targeted by unknown assailants in the Bakaara Market of Mogadishu.[4] By the end of 2010, Qalaf became the first senior figure in the organization publicly criticized the leader of Al-Shabaab, Ahmed Godane, for having “hidden agendas,” after the Al-Shabaab attacked Hizbul Islam forces.[2] Qalaf increasingly split with Godane due to attacks he carried out on Hizbul Islam while its leader, Hassan Dahir Aweys, was negotiating with Al-Shabaab. Godane opposed a Hizbul Islam/Al-Shabaab merger, while Qalaf supported it.[4]

By 2011, Qalaf had risen to become the leader of the groups operations in Puntland. That year he also publicly described suicide bombing as unlawful and began adopting a more conciliatory tone towards the TFG. He warned Al-Shabaab fighters to stop assassinating people 'on mere suspicion of working for the government' as it was a great sin.[4] During a speech in Mogadishu during January 2011, Qalaf stated that TFG would potentially be able to lead the country, in accordance with sharia (Islamic law), together with Al Shabab.[9]

During June 2012, the United States government put out its first bounty on Qalaf.[3] He publicly stated that year that Al-Shabaab would stop 'caning' people for perceived transgressions against sharia.[10] In May 2013, Fuad Qalaf confirmed that al Shabaab had killed American jihadist Omar Hammami (aka Abu Mansoor Al-Amriki) and several other foreign fighters in Bay region.[4] In May 2014, Qalaf stated that al-Shabab fighters would carry out jihad, or holy war, in Kenya and Uganda "and afterward, with God's will, to America."[11]

In 2021 the United States government put a $6 million dollar bounty for information that could lead to Qalafs capture.[12] Following al-Shabaab's 2022 invasion into Ethiopia, Major General Tesfaye Ayalew of the Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF) claimed to have killed Qalaf[13][14] in an airstrike on 29 July 2022.[15] On 3 August Al Shabaab released a voice recording of Qalaf, who denied Ethiopian forces killed him on July 29. He further stated that al Shabaab would continue to attack the Somali Regional Liyu police.[16][15]

See Also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Abdi, Mohamed (2009-05-06). "Somalia: Al-Shabab angered by Somali key Media Org" (in Swedish). Waagacusub Media. Archived from the original on May 11, 2009. Retrieved 2008-06-03.
  2. ^ a b "Al Shabaab leaders condemn each other publicly". Garowe Online. 18 December 2010. Archived from the original on 21 December 2010.
  3. ^ a b "Al-Shabab: US puts bounty on Somali militants". BBC News. 2012-06-07. Retrieved 2024-11-11.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g "Fuad Muhammad Khalaf Shongole". Critical Threats. Retrieved 2023-09-14.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Kino, Nuri (2007-04-16). "Islamistisk ledare värvade i Sverige" (in Swedish). Metro. Retrieved 2008-03-05.
  6. ^ a b c Farah, Mohamed Abdi (2006-10-11). "Somalia: abroad Somali communities urged to return home for Jihad". SomaliNet. Archived from the original on 2006-10-18. Retrieved 2006-12-27.
  7. ^ a b c Magnus Ranstorp, Filip Ahlin, Peder Hyllengren, Magnus Normark. Mellan salafism och salafistisk jihadism - Påverkan mot och utmaningar för det svenska samhället (PDF). 2018: Swedish Defence University. p. 63. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-07-04. Retrieved 2018-07-01.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ Khalif, Abdulkadir (2007-01-29). "West 'backing the wrong horse' in Mogadishu peace initiatives". The East African. Archived from the original on February 2, 2007. Retrieved 2007-02-02.
  9. ^ Gure, Ahmed Muse (25 January 2011). "Fu'ad Shongole calls out to support the Somali government". Somaliweyn. Archived from the original on 28 January 2011.
  10. ^ "Somalia: Al-Shabab 'to stop caning civilians'". BBC News. 2013-08-21. Retrieved 2024-11-11.
  11. ^ Fox news: "Somali extremist leader threatens US, Kenya, Uganda with more attacks" May 22, 2014
  12. ^ "Somalia: US places $6 million bounty on top Al-Shabaab leaders". Garowe Online. 2020-06-30. Retrieved 2023-09-14.
  13. ^ "Ethiopia says it has killed top Al-Shabaab leaders in attack". KEYDMEDIA ONLINE. 2022-07-30. Retrieved 2023-09-14.
  14. ^ Kulkarni, Pavan (2022-08-01). "Key Al-Shabaab leaders killed in attacks along Ethiopia-Somalia border". Peoples Dispatch. Retrieved 2023-09-14.
  15. ^ a b "Gulf of Aden Security Review – August 5, 2022". Critical Threats. Retrieved 2023-09-14.
  16. ^ "An influential Al-Shabaab leader denies he was killed by Ethiopia". KEYDMEDIA ONLINE. 2022-08-04. Retrieved 2024-11-11.
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