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By Abdi Hajji Hussein
Somalia's minister of information, Abdikarim Hassan Jama, on Sunday confirmed that Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, a man believed to al Qaeda's top official in the horn of African countries, was shot and killed by Somali military forces.
According to the interim government official, Somali security forces killed the al Qaeda operative and another Al Shabaab militant at a checkpoint in Mogadishu after the two men refused to stop their car. Instead, they began firing at the government soldiers at the checkpoint, prompting a firefight that ended in their death.
"We didn't realize immediately, but after DNA test we found out he was Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, one of the most wanted individuals around the world," Jama told Radio Mogadishu, a state run station.
"The slain foreign militant was carrying a laptop, South African passport bearing the name of Daniel Robinson, $40,000 in cash and two assault rifles," the minister said in the interview, noting that Mohammed was also carrying more than four mobile phones, maps and documents written with the name of key Al Qaeda members.
He said all those discoveries caused Somali security officers to more closely study the identities of the men.
Mohammed was the most wanted man in Africa, with a $5 million reward on his head.
He was suspected of having played a crucial role in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa that killed 224 people. He was also accused of attacking Israeli targets on the Kenyan coast in 2002.
He was born in Moroni, Comoros Islands, in the Indian Ocean and spoke French, Swahili, Arabic, English and Comoran.
Al Shabaab has not released any comments about the government's claims.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is on a trip to Tanzania, said the death of Fazul Abdullah was a significant blow to al Qaeda.
Earlier this week, Somali army commander Abdikarim Yusuf Adam told the local press that a Somali Canadian, who was the commander of an al Qaeda-associated group in the Jubba regions, and another Al Shabaab fighter died as they drove their pickup through a government-controlled checkpoint.
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World - Somali Minister Confirms Death of al Qaeda Spearhead | Global Viewpoint