20110612
xinhua
MOGADISHU, June 11 (Xinhua) -- The Somali government on Saturday confirmed that its forces killed Fazul Abdullah Mohamed who was Al Qaeda’s chief operative in East Africa.

“Fazul and another accomplice were killed as they resisted arrest by our forces after they stopped his vehicle at a checkpoint manned by Somali troops,” Abdurrahman Omar, senior media advisor to the Somali prime minister, told Xinhua.

He said Somali government security forces had been carrying out surveillance of the fugitive for sometime, leading to the demise of the senior Al Qaeda operative who is also accused of being behind the 1998 bombing of the U. S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. “Somali government is pleased to announce the elimination of one of the worst terrorist in the world and will cooperate with international partners on the global fight on terror to which we are part,” Omar said.

This is the first time the Somali government has officially acknowledged that its forces killed a wanted senior Al Qaeda operative in the East Africa region.

Kenyan police earlier said security experts were carrying out DNA tests to confirm the identity of two terrorists who were killed in the lawless Somali capital by government forces. Fazul is of Kenya origin but uses various passports and aliases. He is said to speak a number of languages including English, French and Swahili.

The Al Qaeda linked Somali Islamist group of Al Shabaab, of which Fazul was a senior member, officially said the two men killed by the Somali government forces did not belong to them.

Officials said equipment including laptops, maps and mobile phones was recovered from the SUV vehicle the Al Qaeda operatives were travelling in. An Undisclosed large sum of money was also found in the vehicle.

The bodies of the figures were reported to have been buried in secret location by Somali government security forces.

Almost 5 million bounty was on the head of Fazul who was indicted by a U.S. court for his alleged involvement in the bombings of the U.S. embassies on Aug. 7, 1998.