SOMALIA:US WAR planes launched an air strike on Somalia early yesterday morning, killing the leader of the country's Islamist insurgency.
Aden Hashi Ayro, who headed the al Shabaab militia and is reputed to have been trained by al- Qaeda in Afghanistan, died when his home in Dusamareb was bombed.
He is blamed for the deaths of 16 foreigners - including a BBC journalist - and with waging a jihad against Somali and Ethiopian government forces that has plunged the country into a humanitarian crisis.
Analysts said it was the first success for America's secret war in Somalia after four previous air strikes that had killed dozens of civilians and stoked anti-western sentiment.
David Shinn, former US ambassador to Ethiopia, said however that Ayro's death would not stop the bloody insurgency and could provoke a wave of revenge attacks.
"It will not end the al Shabaab movement," he said. "I think it will disrupt it and raise some internal issues of leadership - who takes control, in what direction it goes - but to suggest it eliminates al Shabaab is wishful thinking."
Ayro rose to prominence as a military commander with the Islamic Courts Union.
His followers in al Shabaab (the youth) were credited with helping the courts take control of much of southern and central Somalia in 2006.
Neighbouring countries, as well as western governments, feared the presence of people such as Ayro and suspects wanted for the 1998 bombing of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania would turn Somalia into a haven for al-Qaeda.
The courts lost control of the capital, Mogadishu, in December that year and much of their support melted away.
Ayro soon resurfaced to declare jihad on Ethiopian forces which had helped the feeble transitional federal government to defeat the courts. He used tactics pioneered by insurgents in Iraq to keep pressure on a force he viewed as an invading power. His al Shabaab movement was declared a terrorist organisation by the US in March.
Officials said he was the head of al-Qaeda in Somalia, although few local analysts believed Osama bin Laden's outfit had any meaningful presence in the country.