Nationality Somalia Occupation militant leader | Title Emir of Al-Shabaab Name Ahmad Umar | |
Al shabaab names sheikh ahmad umar as the successor after the death of abdi godane
Ahmed Omar (Somali: Axmed Cumar, Arabic: أحمد عمر), also known as Ahmed Diriye and Abu Ubaidah, is the Emir of the Somalia-based Islamist group Al-Shabaab. He was listed by the US State Department as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in April 2015. He has a bounty of $6,000,000 on his head from the Rewards for Justice Program.
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History
He is believed to be in his forties and is a member of the Bajimaal section of the Dir clan from the Kismayo region of Somalia.
Ahmed Diriye became the leader of al-Shabaab following the death of the group’s former leader, Ahmed Abdi Godane, in September 2014. Prior to replacing Godane, Diriye served in several positions within al-Shabaab, including as Godane’s assistant, the deputy governor of Lower Juba region in 2008, and al-Shabaab’s governor of Bay and Bakool regions in 2009. By 2013, he was a senior adviser to Godane, and served in al-Shabaab’s "Interior Department," where he oversaw the group’s domestic activity. He shares Godane’s vision for al-Shabaab’s terrorist attacks in Somalia as an element of al-Qa’ida’s greater global aspirations.
He was named Al-Shabaab leader in September 2014, after Godane was killed by a US airstrike.