Somali State Minister of Defense Aided Al-Shabaab Suicide Attack

Via The Long War Journal -

Somalia's State Minister for Defense Sheikh Yusuf Mohammad Siad collaborated with Shabaab to conduct a dual suicide attack against a high-level meeting in Mogadishu airport on September 17, a senior Somali researcher on the Somali Islamist groups who wishes to remain anonymous has told The Long War Journal.

Shabaab had excellent intelligence on when and how to launch the coordinated attack because the minister, a former warlord also known as "Indha'adde" or "white eyes," had sold Shabaab the necessary information for $50,000 through a middleman.

The attack took place exactly as the top two commanders of the African Union Mission in Somalia, or AMISOM, were meeting with senior Somali officials at the compound. Minister Indha'adde was also present at the meeting but left the airport moments before the suicide bombing; later he publicly stated that he "knew"about the incoming attack, according to Garowe.

The Shabaab operation was well planned, ambitious, and expensive. The attackers easily entered the compound driving two stolen white vehicles with United Nations markings. One of the suicide bombers was an American national recruited in Seattle. The American suicide bomber was fluent in English and able to pretend he was an authentic United Nations officer.

Shabaab's mission was aimed to decapitate the African Union Mission's military leadership, and the terror group partially succeeded. Major General Juvenal Niyoyunguruza, the deputy commander for AMISOM and the commander of Burundian forces in Somalia, was among the 21 people killed, while General Nathan Mugisha, the AMISOM commander, was slightly wounded.