Maalim Ayman: Al-Shabaab Commander Steering a Deadly Special Unit in East Africa

Maalim Ayman: Al-Shabaab Commander Steering a Deadly Special Unit in East Africa

A Kenyan-U.S. military camp in Manda Bay, Lamu County in the coastal region came under heavy attack from armed militants on January 5, 2020.

Three Americans were killed in the raid, for which al-Shabaab – the Somali-based al-Qaeda affiliate in East Africa – claimed responsibility. The camp is used by both Kenyan and American forces (Nairobi News, January 6, 2020).

It later emerged that Jaysh al-Ayman, a specialized unit of the organization that carries out terrorist attacks in both Kenya and Somalia, had executed the raid. From al-Shabaab bases in Somalia, Maalim Ayman, the unit’s commander, had instructed and helped prepare for the operation (The East African, November 18, 2020).

The raid added to the growing list of deadly attacks executed by the special unit under the direction of Ayman.

Who is Maalim Ayman?

Within al-Shabaab, Ayman can be described as a mid-level commander. In the terrorist organization’s operations and intelligence circles, the militant leader is known by several aliases, including Abdiaziz Dobow Ali, Ma’alim Ayman, Mo’alim Ayman, Nuh Ibrahim Abdi and Ayman Kabo. The unit also carries several names, including Jaysh Ayman al-Shabaab, Jaysh la Imani and Jaysh Ayman Majmo Ayman (Nation, November 27, 2020).

Ayman’s exact date of birth is unknown, but he is believed to be in his late 40s, like most of the mid-level commanders within al-Shabaab. Reports suggest he was born in 1973 in Kenya’s Mandera County, a predominantly Muslim region that maintains close links with Somalia. In the border region, people have relatives in both countries, so for him, traveling to war-torn Somalia to join al-Shabaab was not a difficult affair.

When Ayman was approximately 33-years-old, the militant leader is believed to have been among the first group of Kenyans fighters to have traveled to Somalia between 2006- 2007 to join the Islamist resistance against the then-Transitional Federal Government (TFG). The TFG came into power in 2007 after overthrowing the Islamic Courts Union, a group of Muslims courts that in 2006 filled the power vacuum left by the fall of the Dictator Siad Barre’s government in 1991.

Fighters like Ayman were sent for training in Majimmo in southern Somalia. The area had been set up for training East African mujahedeen by a militant leader known as Titus Nabiswa, a.k.a. Mwalimu Khalid or Mwalimu Kenya.

Nabiswa’s forces reportedly under-performed, only succeeding in executing low-level grenade strikes against churches, public installations and security forces. The attacks were concentrated in Mombasa, Nairobi and Garissa cities.

When he was killed in Mombasa in an alleged shootout in October 2012, the emir of al-Shabaab, the late Shaykh Ahmed Abdi Godane, a.k.a. Mukhar Abu Zubeir, moved to strengthen the focus on the wider East African region. He ordered the formation of a new and more effective unit to target the East Africa region (Nation, November 27, 2020).

That created a chance for Ayman to ascend the ranks of al-Shabaab. In 2013, when the unit took shape, Godane named it after Ayman, who was one of the founding commanders.  Godane allegedly was uncomfortable with a foreigner leading the unit, so he nominated Ayman, a Somali, to lead the force (Nation, November 27, 2020; Nairobi News, September 6, 2017).

Ayman, an ethnic Somali from Mandera County in Kenya, has been commanding the special force since its founding.

Under Ayman, the seven-year-old unit can be described as deadly and violent. In an attempt to seize control of the largely Muslim coastal and northeastern regions of Kenya, the unit has adopted a bloody approach, executing revenge attacks, assassinations and beheadings. It carries out tit-for-tat operations, attempting to kill at least two or more security forces for every one of its fighters who are killed (Nation, November 27, 2020).

Large-scale strikes by the group have targeted churches, hotels and security installations. Jaysh al-Ayman has filmed these attacks for use in al-Shabaab’s propaganda war. The units have also tried preaching to the people, using videos of the mass attacks to recruit new followers.

On June 14, 2014, under his watch, the unit carried out a deadly attack on a hotel in Mpeketoni area in Lamu County. At least 40 people were killed. In July the same year, the unit attacked a trading center and targeted government buildings and a church, killing at least nine people. Among the dead were people watching a World Cup football match.

Ayman’s unit, in July 2014, raided Gamba police station in Lamu, killing at least 29 people. On June 2015, the unit raided a Kenya Defense Forces base in Lamu, killing two soldiers. Ayman’s unit was also involved in the deadly 2013 Nairobi Westgate attack, during which 67 people were killed and over 200 injured.

In April 2015, the unit executed the Garissa University attack, which left 148 people dead, most of them Christian students. This was the deadliest attack in the country since the 1998 U.S. embassy bombing.

That same month, the unit was repulsed after it attempted to overrun an army base in Lamu. Reports indicate that 11 KDF soldiers and 16 members of unit were killed during the attack.

In 2017, Jaysh al-Ayman abducted Kenya’s Permanent Secretary (PS) Mariaam El- Maawy on the Mokowe-Mpeketoni road as she went to inspect development projects. The PS was rescued by Kenyan Special forces, but she later died while receiving treatment in South Africa.

The deaths associated with the unit have boosted Ayman’s status with al-Shabaab and its leadership. The U.S designated Ayman as a global terrorist on November 17, 2020, alongside Abdullahi Osman Mohammed. While the designation exposes and isolates Ayman and denies him access to the U.S. financial system, it has also boosted his terrorist credentials (The Star, November 17, 2020).

Ayman was reportedly killed in 2019 in a Kenyan airstrike in the southern Somali town of Jamame. The strike targeted a ceremony in which new al-Shabaab recruits were joining the unit. But the recent U.S terrorist designation clarifies that he is still alive (Nation, November 27, 2020).

Ayman’s group includes foreign terrorists, among them a German known as Ahmed Muller, who uses the aliases Andreas Ahmed Khalid, Muller Martin Muller and Abu Naisabah. Malik Ali Jones, an American now serving a prison term in the United States, was also involved with Jaysh al-Ayman. The group includes other fighters from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania (Nation, August 21, 2020; Eritrea Focus, February 5, 2019).

Maalim Ayman remains at large in southern Somalia. A beneficiary of Shaykh Godane’s trust, Ayman is proving to be an asset to al-Shabaab. His organizational skills made Jaysh al-Ayman visible and turned the shadowy unit into a deadly force in East Africa.

With his status as a terrorist boosted by the U.S. designation, it is possible that the group will conduct more attacks. In Kenya, security forces continue to focus on such leaders. However, in Somalia, officials are distracted as the country prepares to elect a new president. It would be a deadly mistake for international security services to lose their focus on the deadly Jaysh al-Ayman commander.