Tuesday October 14, 2025
Mogadishu (HOL) — The commander of Somalia's Ma'awisley community
defense forces, a local militia fighting al-Shabaab, said a senior militant
commander recently killed by local forces and government forces was responsible
for the massacre of civilians in the Hiiraan region last year.
Speaking to BBC Somali on Tuesday, Ma’awiisley leader Ali
Jeyte Osman said the slain commander, Ali Ahmed Guure, also known as Ali
Qoyane, masterminded the September 3, 2023, attack that left several civilians
dead between Mahaas and Beledweyne.
“The people who were killed belonged to one subclan. The
plan was designed to divide the community,” Jeyte told the BBC.
According to local sources, Ali Qoyane had been a member of
al-Shabaab for more than a decade and was known for targeting migrant and
displaced communities in Hiiraan.
“The war officially began in August 2022, but that incident
was the one that united the people and made them see that the enemy does not
discriminate between men and women,” Jeyte said, referring to the grassroots
uprising that evolved into a wider military campaign against the extremist
group.
Initially a local self-defense movement, the Ma’awiisley
militia expanded into a broader alliance with federal forces to drive
al-Shabaab out of large parts of central Somalia. However, the group has since
managed to reclaim some areas it previously lost.
The Somali government said the operation that killed Ali
Qoyane took place Sunday night in the Mabah area of Hiiraan. Authorities
described him as a key al-Shabaab commander overseeing the group’s intelligence
network in Beledweyne.
Jeyte said Qoyane’s death marked a major victory for local
and federal forces. “The locals see it as a breath of fresh air. The enemy is
gone,” he said.