Al Qaeda commander killed in Somalia

APA-Mogadishu-(Somalia) An Al Qaeda commander said to be from Egypt was killed in heavy fighting in the Somali capital Mogadishu between the extremist group Al Shabab and the pro-government moderate Islamists late on Monday, APA learns here on Tuesday.

A commander within the Al Shabab militants who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to talk to the media told APA that Sheikh Anwar Mohamed Abubakar was among several fighters killed during Monday’s fighting around the Bakara market in Mogadishu.

“We cannot describe him as a foreigner as he was our brother from Egypt and he died in the fighting. I hope his life will rest in paradise,” he said, adding that Sheikh Abdul Kader Abdi Hussein, another commander was also killed in the fighting.

A spokesman for the moderate Islamists Sheikh Abdullahi Sheik Addirahman Abu Yusuf has claimed that his fighters killed many militants including foreign fighters.

“They suffered heavy losses, but I can confirm the death of the Al Qaeda man from Egypt whose name is Anwar Mohamed Abubakar and the Somali terrorist commander Abdul Kader Abdi Hussein,” the moderate Islamist spokesman told reporters in Mogadishu on Tuesday.

“Our forces are heading to the militant stronghold, the Bakara Market and other districts they control so that people can get freedom” the pro-government moderate Islamist group’s spokesman added.

The militants have been fighting the Somali government for the past three years in a bid to topple the internationally-backed Transitional Federal Government and instead establish an Islamic state in Somalia, like what existed in Afghanistan before the fall of the Taliban in 2001.