Fuad Qalaf

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 Islamist.

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 he fled Somalia but returned to become a top official within Al-Shabaab.[1] Presently he holds a seat on Al-Shabaab's Shura Council and is believed to head the groups operations in Puntland state.[2]

Biography

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Born in Mogadishu,[2] Qalaf came to Sweden as an asylum seeker in 1992 and later received Swedish citizenship.[3][4] He stayed in Sweden for twelve years, most of the time preaching as an Imam at mosque in the Rinkeby district in Stockholm (Swedish: Rinkebymoskén).[3][4][5] As such, he worked to influence young Muslims about Jihad.[3] 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.[5] He was also a prolific lecturer at the Bellevue Mosque in Gothenburg.[5]

In 2004, Qalaf returned to Somalia together with his family to fight with the Islamic Courts Union in the war against the Transitional Federal Government and allied Ethiopian forces.[3] Following the conquest of Mogadishu in 2006, Qalaf went on to serve as head of the Department of Education under the new ICU-government.[3][4] The Somali human rights group Sultan Hurre Human Rights Focus also described him as a "senior leader" of ICU militant youth wing al-Shabaab.[6] After the Ethiopian invasion of Somalia in December 2006 and the subsequent fall of the ICU-government, Qalaf and other ICU leaders fled to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.[7] In April 2007 he was reported as living in Kenya.[3]

In 2007 or 2008 he returned to Somalia to fight with Al-Shabaab. Swedish news website Nyheter24 claimed Qalaf participated in the stoning of a thirteen-year-old Somali girl named Asho Duhalow in March 2009. The girl was reportedly sentenced to death according to Islamic Sharia law because she did not follow Islamic clothing laws. Later during the day, according to the same source, he also cut the hand of a Somali man who was accused of theft. The man had stolen money and clothes to the value of approximately US$100.[8]

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."[9]

In 2021 the United States government put a $6 million dollar bounty for information that could lead to Qalafs capture.[10]

Major General Tesfaye Ayalew of the Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF) claimed to have killed Qalaf[11][12] in an airstrike on 29 July 2022.[13] 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.[13]

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 "Fuad Muhammad Khalaf Shongole". Critical Threats. Retrieved 2023-09-14.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Kino, Nuri (2007-04-16). "Islamistisk ledare värvade i Sverige" (in Swedish). Metro. Retrieved 2008-03-05.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ 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)
  6. ^ "Somalia: The Tough Part is Ahead". Sultan Hurre Human Rights Focus. 2007-01-26. Archived from the original on 2008-07-06. Retrieved 2008-03-05.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ Levy, Oscar (2009-05-09). "Svensk shejk hugger av tjuvens hand" (in Swedish). Nyheter24. Archived from the original on 2009-05-14. Retrieved 2008-06-03.
  9. ^ Fox news: "Somali extremist leader threatens US, Kenya, Uganda with more attacks" May 22, 2014
  10. ^ "Somalia: US places $6 million bounty on top Al-Shabaab leaders". Garowe Online. 2020-06-30. Retrieved 2023-09-14.
  11. ^ "Ethiopia says it has killed top Al-Shabaab leaders in attack". KEYDMEDIA ONLINE. 2022-07-30. Retrieved 2023-09-14.
  12. ^ Kulkarni, Pavan (2022-08-01). "Key Al-Shabaab leaders killed in attacks along Ethiopia-Somalia border". Peoples Dispatch. Retrieved 2023-09-14.
  13. ^ a b "Gulf of Aden Security Review – August 5, 2022". Critical Threats. Retrieved 2023-09-14.
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