Afghanistan and Al-Qaeda
Aden Hashi Farah Ayro was said to have gone to Afghanistan to train with al-Qaeda before 2001, according to Matthew Bryden of International Crisis Group. Here he was supposedly trained in explosives and other insurgent tactics, applying them in the Islamic Courts Union militias later on; notably with the Shiirkoole (Circolo) court of Mogadishu.
According to International Crisis Group, it was after this stint with the terror organisation that he went back to Somalia in 2003 to set up a network with other al-Itihaad al-Islamiya veterans to assassinate foreigners and opponents, culminating in the eventual deaths of four foreign aid workers and at least ten Somali former military and police officers. On June 10, 2006, The Guardian repeated this story by stating, "An unnamed network run by one of Aweys's proteges, Aden Hashi Farah "Ayro", has been linked to the murder of four western aid workers and more than a dozen Somalis who allegedly cooperated with counter-terror organisations." They also desecrated an Italian cemetery in Mogadishu to great international outrage, and helped shelter and provide assistance to Al-Qaeda operatives in Banaadir and the Lower Shabelle region of Somalia. During this period, Ayro's actions remained clandestine. (see page 8)
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