Abu Taha al-Sudan
Abu Taha Al-Sudan (also Abu Talha al-Sudani or Tariq Abdullah) was a suspected member of Al Qaeda terrorist organization, reported to be an explosives expert.
He is believed to have traveled to Southern Lebanon along with Saif al-Adel, Sayful Islam al-Masri, Abu Ja`far al-Masri and Abu Salim al-Masri, where he trained alongside Hezbollah.[1]
A Sudanese national married to a Somali woman, al-Sudan had lived in Somalia since 1993. He was more recently identified as a close associate of Gouled Hassan Dourad, leader of a Mogadishu-based network that worked in support of Al Qaeda. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence revealed that Al-Sudani had been involved with a plot to target the U.S. military base in Djibouti (see CJTF-HOA).
Al-Sudan was also believed to be the financier of the 1998 United States embassy bombings.[2]
In December 2006, al-Sudan was reported to have led a group of ICU fighters in Idale as part of the War in Somalia.[3] A month later he was the target of a U.S. Air Force AC-130 airstrike that killed an undetermined number (up to 70) of civilian nomadic tribesmen, but not al-Sudan.[4][5]
Time, citing a Pentagon official, reported in late November 2007 that al-Sudani had been killed.[6] On September 2, 2008, in a video taunting the United States, Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan confirmed the death of Abu Talha al Sudani.[7]
References
- ↑ Hegghammer, Thomas (February 2008). "Deconstructing the Myth about Al- Qaida and Khobar" (PDF). CTC Sentinel. Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. 1 (3): 20–25.
- ↑ DeYoung, Karen (2007-01-08). "U.S. Strike in Somalia Targets Al-Qaeda Figure". Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-01-08.
- ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-01-12. Retrieved 2007-07-25.
- ↑ The Independent, January 13, 2007, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-10-18. Retrieved 2007-10-04.
- ↑ C. Bryson Hull, Somalia strike misses top Al Queda suspects -US, Reuters, 11 January 2007;http://www.reuters.com/article/2007/01/11/us-somalia-conflict-idUSHUN14121320070111
- ↑ Time, November 29, 2007, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1689207-2,00.html
- ↑ http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/09/shabab_reaches_out_t.php
External links
- Abu Talha al Sudani Profile at GlobalSecurity.org
- Counter-Terrorism in Somalia: Losing Hearts and Minds? Crisis Group