MOGADISHU: The Somali government announced on Monday a top Al-Shabab militant, who had a $3.0-million US bounty on his head, had been killed in a joint air strike in southern Somalia.
The drone strike on October 1, launched by the Somali army and international security partners, killed Abdullahi Yare near the coastal town of Haramka, the ministry of information said in a statement dated Sunday but posted online on Monday.
“This leader... was the head preacher of the group and one of the most notorious members of the Shabab group,” it said.
“He was former head of the Shoura council and the group’s director for finances,” the ministry said, referring to a powerful consultation body within Al-Shabab.
A co-founder of the Al-Qaeda-linked group, Yare was believed to be next in line to take over the leadership of the movement from its ailing chief Ahmed Diriye, according to the ministry.
“His elimination is like a thorn removed from Somalia as a nation,” the ministry said.
Yare was one of seven leaders named by the United States on its most-wanted list in 2012. Washington offered three million dollars for his capture.
The announcement of the strike comes weeks after Somalia’s recently elected President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud vowed to stage all-out war on the jihadists, following a string of deadly attacks. They include a 30-hour hotel siege in the capital, Mogadishu, that killed 21 people.
Mohamud last month urged citizens to stay away from areas controlled by Al-Shabab as he vowed to ratchet up offensives against the militants.
US forces have in the past partnered with African Union soldiers and Somali troops in counterterrorism operations, and have conducted frequent raids and drone strikes on Al-Shabab training camps throughout Somalia.
Last month, the US military said it had killed 27 jihadist fighters in an air strike near Bulobarde, the main town on the road linking Mogadishu to Beledweyne, a key city on the border with Ethiopia.
It said the air strike was carried out “at the request” of the Somali government.
Al-Shabab, which espouses a strict version of sharia or Islamic law, has waged a bloody insurrection against the Mogadishu government for 15 years and remains a potent force despite an African Union operation against the group.
Its fighters were ousted from the capital in 2011 but continue to stage attacks on military, government and civilian targets.
The group last week claimed responsibility for a bomb blast that killed a top Somali police officer near the Al-Shabab-controlled village of Bursa, some 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of Mogadishu.
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Top Al-Shabab leader killed in joint operation: Somalia government
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Top Al-Shabab leader killed in joint operation: Somalia government
- Abdullahi Yare was one of seven leaders named by the United States on its most-wanted list in 2012
Russia’s war footing may remain after Ukraine war, Latvia spy chief warns
MUNICH: Russia will not end the militarization of its economy after fighting in Ukraine ends, the head of Latvia’s intelligence agency told AFP on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference which ends Sunday.
“The potential aggressiveness of Russia when the Ukraine war stops will depend of many factors: How the war ends, if it’s frozen or not, and if the sanctions remain,” Egils Zviedris, director of the Latvian intelligence service SAB, told AFP.
Some observers believe that Russia has so thoroughly embraced a war economy and full military mobilization that it will be difficult for it to reverse course, and that this could push Moscow to launch further offensives against European territories.
Zviedris said that lifting current sanctions “would allow Russia to develop its military capacities” more quickly.
He acknowledged that Russia has drawn up military plans to potentially attack Latvia and its Baltic neighbors, but also said that “Russia does not pose a military threat to Latvia at the moment.”
“The fact that Russia has made plans to invade the Baltics, as they have plans for many things, does not mean Russia is going to attack,” Zviedris told AFP.
However, the country is subject to other types of threats from Moscow, particularly cyberattacks, according to the agency he leads.
The SAB recently wrote in its 2025 annual report that Russia poses the main cyber threat to Latvia, because of broader strategic goals as well as Latvia’s staunch support of Ukraine.
The threat has “considerably increased” since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, it said.
The agency has also warned that Russia is seeking to exploit alleged grievances of Russian-speaking minorities in the Baltics — and in Latvia in particular.
Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has repeatedly claimed to be preparing cases against Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia at the UN International Court of Justice over the rights of their Russian-speaking minorities.
“The aim of litigation: to discredit Latvia on an international level and ensure long-term international pressure on Latvia to change its policy toward Russia and the Russian-speaking population,” the report said.
In 2025, approximately 23 percent of Latvia’s 1.8 million residents identified as being of Russian ethnicity, according to the national statistics office.
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Latvian authorities decided to require Russian speakers residing in the country to take an exam to assess their knowledge of the Latvian language — with those failing at potential risk of deportation.
“The potential aggressiveness of Russia when the Ukraine war stops will depend of many factors: How the war ends, if it’s frozen or not, and if the sanctions remain,” Egils Zviedris, director of the Latvian intelligence service SAB, told AFP.
Some observers believe that Russia has so thoroughly embraced a war economy and full military mobilization that it will be difficult for it to reverse course, and that this could push Moscow to launch further offensives against European territories.
Zviedris said that lifting current sanctions “would allow Russia to develop its military capacities” more quickly.
He acknowledged that Russia has drawn up military plans to potentially attack Latvia and its Baltic neighbors, but also said that “Russia does not pose a military threat to Latvia at the moment.”
“The fact that Russia has made plans to invade the Baltics, as they have plans for many things, does not mean Russia is going to attack,” Zviedris told AFP.
However, the country is subject to other types of threats from Moscow, particularly cyberattacks, according to the agency he leads.
The SAB recently wrote in its 2025 annual report that Russia poses the main cyber threat to Latvia, because of broader strategic goals as well as Latvia’s staunch support of Ukraine.
The threat has “considerably increased” since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, it said.
The agency has also warned that Russia is seeking to exploit alleged grievances of Russian-speaking minorities in the Baltics — and in Latvia in particular.
Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has repeatedly claimed to be preparing cases against Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia at the UN International Court of Justice over the rights of their Russian-speaking minorities.
“The aim of litigation: to discredit Latvia on an international level and ensure long-term international pressure on Latvia to change its policy toward Russia and the Russian-speaking population,” the report said.
In 2025, approximately 23 percent of Latvia’s 1.8 million residents identified as being of Russian ethnicity, according to the national statistics office.
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Latvian authorities decided to require Russian speakers residing in the country to take an exam to assess their knowledge of the Latvian language — with those failing at potential risk of deportation.
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