Garissa University terror attack mastermind killed in raid

A man believed to have masterminded the Garissa University terror attack is dead.

Mohamed Dulyadayn aka Kuno Gamadhere was one of the four militants killed in Farwamo, 30kms north of Kismayo.

The killing was done through a joint operation by the Somalia and foreign forces.

Details of the raid were, however, scanty. Somalia media said the operation was conducted after intelligence reports indicated he was in Farwamo.

This is the second time reports of his death emerged. Last year, there were reports he had been killed in a drone attack.

Kenyan security officials said they were waiting for a confirmation on the raid, and details on whether indeed Kuno had been killed.

“We are waiting for more information on the same. We will update you,” said a senior official who asked not to be named.

Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet said it was almost certain Kuno was killed.

“We have reports that he was killed in an airstrike in a joint operation with the local security. He was behind the Garissa University attack,” he said.

During the Garissa attack, 142 students were killed. Kuno has been on the run since then but active in organising terror attacks in Kenya.

Police said Kuno has been behind several attacks, including the Mandera one in which over 60 people were killed.

COMMANDS MILITIA

He was Al Shabaab’s Jabha leader for Juba region, Somalia. “He commands the militia along the border and is responsible for cross-border incursions in the country,” police said in 2014.

The statement revealed that in the recent past, Kuno had intensified attacks in Northern Kenya and the Coast region, particularly Garissa, Mandera and Lamu.

He has three wives and one is a resident of Huda near Ras Kamboni. “The other two live in Garissa,” said the police.

He was a Madrassa teacher for many years, and worked for Al-Haramain Foundation between 1993 and 1995, before the institution was closed.

At the time he was known as Sheikh Mahamad. Later, he became a teacher and principal at Madrasa Najah in Garissa from 1997 to 2000 where his extremist tendencies became more manifest.

He joined Al Shabaab in early 2000 after being motivated by the ideology of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) to establish an Islamic statehood in Somalia.

It is reported that a majority of the terror attacks in Garissa were carried out by former students of Madrassa Najah. Most of the recruits were drawn from close family members and clan mates.