Ayrow: UPDATE 2

UPDATE 2: Al-Shabab official website has issued a statement on the death of Ayrow in Somali. “Airplanes of the enemy of Allah”, the text reads, have caused the “martyrdom of the mujahid and leader” Aden Ayrow as well as Sheikh Muhiyuddin Mohammad Omar (former Health Minister for the Islamic Courts).

The statement said that a full biography would be published in the coming days, but noted his “important role in the jihad movement started in Somali since the 1990s, and also [his] important role in the establishment of Al-Shabab.”

He was, the text goes on to say, “never the general leader [of al-Shabab].” In retaliation, “the mujahideen of al-Shabab and their leader Sheikh Mukhtar Abu Zubayr will double their acts for the sake of God and their jihad. And jihad is bigger than the actions of just one person.”