Mogadishu (Somalia Today) – Somalia’s elite forces have killed a senior Al-Shabaab commander responsible for the group’s finances in the capital Mogadishu, intelligence authorities said Thursday, the second major strike against the militants’ economic network in less than two weeks.
The National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) announced that special forces from the “Gaashaan” unit raided a hideout in the Lower Shabelle region on January 27, killing Ahmed Dhubad Hidig, known by the alias Sheikh Adan Dhere.
Intelligence identified Hidig as the head of finance for the Banadir region, which encompasses Mogadishu and serves as the country’s main commercial hub.
“The National Intelligence and Security Agency succeeded in relieving the Somali people of the suffering caused by leader Ahmed Dhubad Hidig,” the agency said in a statement released Thursday.
NISA said the operative, who joined the Al-Qaeda-linked group in 2008, attempted to fight back during the raid in the village of Daniga Baaloow before forces shot him dead.
‘Total war’ on revenue
The operation marks an intensification of the government’s “economic war” against the insurgents, a strategy President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud launched in 2022 to disrupt the illicit revenue streams that fund the group’s deadly insurgency.
Security analysts say the removal of Hidig—who previously oversaw extortion networks in the central regions of Mudug and Galgaduud—is a critical blow to the group’s ability to extort businesses in the capital.
The killing comes just days after security forces eliminated the group’s overall head of finance, Abdullahi Hassan Abdi Osoble, in a separate operation on January 23.
Authorities have ramped up financial pressure in recent years. In January 2023, the government froze over 250 bank accounts and 70 mobile money wallets linked to the militants, a move Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre termed a “major victory.”
Authorities followed this with the introduction of the Targeted Financial Sanctions Law in 2023 and the release of Somalia’s first domestic sanctions list in 2024, which designated 17 senior operatives.
Despite these measures, the militants continue to generate an estimated $100 million annually, according to UN experts, largely through a “mafia-style” taxation system on logistics and commerce known as “zakat.”
Relentless offensive
The financial crackdown runs parallel to a heightened military offensive in central Somalia.
On February 1, NISA announced a separate operation in the Middle Shabelle region that killed 13 militants, including five senior commanders gathered for a strategy meeting in the village of Maxaa Saciid.
Among those killed were regional commanders responsible for operations in Bay and Galgaduud, further straining the group’s leadership structure.
Al-Shabaab has been waging a violent insurgency against the fragile central government in Mogadishu for more than 15 years.
Although African Union forces drove them out of the capital in 2011, the militants—which the government calls “Khawaarij” or renegades—remain a potent threat in rural areas, frequently launching suicide attacks and bombings against government and civilian targets.
“Targeting the money men is a deliberate strategy to cripple their logistics,” said a security source in Mogadishu. “Without the veteran administrators who know how to squeeze businesses in the capital, their cash flow faces immediate disruption.”
