Al Shabaab Leader Surrenders to Authorities
A high-ranking member of the Somali terrorist organization al Shabaab has turned himself into Somali authorities.
Bloomberg reports the leader is known as Zakariya Ismail Hersi and he surrendered after making a telephone call to the Somali Army informing them of his intentions.
In 2012, the US government put a $3 million bounty on Hersi, but this is not what motivated him to turn himself in. Bloomberg says that Hersi had a falling out with other members of the al Shabaab leadership and the disagreement was so severe that Hersi actively feared for his life.
Hersi is said to have been the head of al Shabaab's intelligence operations. Hersi is the second major leadership loss for the group since its head Ahmed Abdi Godane was killed in a US drone strike in Sept.
Despite these leadership setbacks, al Shabaab has been able to continue to launch attacks in the Somali capital of Mogadishu. Reuters reports that al Shabaab recently launched an offensive against a Mogadishu military installation manned by members of an international peacekeeping force from the African Union. Three peacekeepers and a contractor will killed in that assault.
Witnesses interviewed by Reuters reported hearing explosions and gunfire for the majority of Christmas Day, when the attack occurred.
The group has also been increasingly bold in the neighboring country of Kenya. In 2013, the group laid waste to a shopping mall in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, killing more than 70 people.
More recently, the group has attacked teachers and workers as they go about their duties. Al Shabaab would enter an area, typically near the shared Kenyan-Somali border, and demand the people present recite the Koran. Those who were unable to do so were summarily executed.
