Abu Talha al-Sudani (also Abu Taha al-Sudan or Tariq Abdullah), was a Sudanese member of Al Qaeda terrorist organization, an explosives expert and a close aide of Osama bin Laden.[1]

He is believed to have traveled to Southern Lebanon along with Saif al-Adel, Saif al-Islam al-Masri, Abu Ja`far al-Masri and Abu Salim al-Masri, where he trained alongside Hezbollah.[2]

A Sudanese national married to a Somali woman, al-Sudani had lived in Somalia since 1993. He was more recently identified as a close associate of Gouled Hassan Dourad, leader of a Mogadishu-based network that worked in support of Al Qaeda. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence revealed that al-Sudani had been involved with a plot to target the U.S. military base in Djibouti (see CJTF-HOA).

Al-Sudani was also believed to be the financier of the 1998 United States embassy bombings.[3]

In December 2006, the TFG ministers publicly claimed al-Sudani led a group of ICU fighters in Idaale as part of the War in Somalia, a claim which observers were widely skeptical of.[4] A month later he was the target of a U.S. Air Force AC-130 airstrike that allegedly killed an undetermined number (up to 70) of civilian nomadic tribesmen (denied by a US official), but not al-Sudani.[5][6]

According to a Pentagon official, al-Sudani was killed by Ethiopian forces in late November 2007 in the Badhadhe District. However, the U.S. government never officially confirmed his death.[7] On September 2, 2008, Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan confirmed the death of Abu Talha al-Sudani, referring to him as a "martyr".[8]

References

  1. ↑ Downing, Wayne A. (2009). Al-Qa-ida-s (Mis)Adventures in the Horn of Africa. DIANE Publishing Company. p. 131. ISBN 9781437918298.
  2. ↑ Hegghammer, Thomas (February 2008). "Deconstructing the Myth about Al- Qaida and Khobar" (PDF). CTC Sentinel. Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. 1 (3): 20–25.
  3. ↑ DeYoung, Karen (2007-01-08). "U.S. Strike in Somalia Targets Al-Qaeda Figure". Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-01-08.
  4. ↑ "VOA News - Somali Fighting Continues, Despite Diplomatic Effort". Archived from the original on 2007-01-12. Retrieved 2007-07-25.
  5. ↑ The Independent, January 13, 2007, "US strikes on al-Qa'ida chiefs kill nomads - Independent Online Edition > Africa". Archived from the original on 2007-10-18. Retrieved 2007-10-04.
  6. ↑ "Somalia strike misses top al Qaeda suspects". Reuters. 2007-01-21. Retrieved 2023-11-06.
  7. ↑ "Somalia on the Edge". TIME. 2007-11-29. Archived from the original on 2007-12-03. Retrieved 2023-11-06.
  8. ↑ "Shabaab reaches out to al Qaeda senior leaders, announces death al Sudani | FDD's Long War Journal". 2 September 2008.


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