MOGADISHU, Somalia — A Somali court has sentenced a woman to six years in prison for financing the militant group Al-Shabaab, part of a broader government push to sever the insurgents’ money networks. In a separate overnight raid, security forces said they killed a senior Al-Shabaab commander in the central Galgaduud region.
Key developments:
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- Maryan Mohamed Nur was sentenced to six years after the court found she had direct links to Al-Shabaab and helped move funds to the group, prosecutors said.
- Investigators said she managed six bank accounts and six cellphone numbers allegedly used to funnel nearly $2.2 million for terrorism financing, including explosions and assassinations.
- In Galgaduud, the military said it killed commander Ahmed Sheikh Omar Cadow Gacal in an operation near Cali Heele, about 30 kilometers west of Masagawaay.
Prosecutors told the court that Nur’s network was used to conceal and route money that supported Al-Shabaab operations. They said the channels were part of a laundering scheme that masked the origins and destinations of funds later used for attacks. The court, after reviewing case documents, found that she maintained direct ties to the group and engaged in financing activities that violated the country’s counterterrorism laws.
Somalia has intensified efforts to target the financial lifelines that keep the group operational. Authorities have previously shuttered bank accounts linked to suspected extremists and blocked certain mobile money transfers as part of the campaign. Officials estimate Al-Shabaab raises close to $120 million annually, largely through the exploitation of civilians and other external streams, and say the revenue is used to purchase weapons and pay fighters. Cutting those flows has become a central pillar of the counterinsurgency alongside battlefield operations.
Separately, security forces conducting an overnight operation with local partners in the Cali Heele area reported killing Gacal, whom the military identified as a key commander. Officials said he coordinated attacks in Middle Shabelle and directed improvised explosive device operations across Middle Shabelle, Hiraan and Galgaduud — regions that have seen a surge of joint operations by federal and local forces over the past year.
The military described Gacal as a central planner of assaults targeting civilians, and said his death removed a coordinator with knowledge of logistics and IED tactics that have been used to hit both security targets and public spaces. The government praised the units involved and said the mission was part of a series of ongoing operations across central and southern Somalia aimed at degrading Al-Shabaab’s capability to mount complex attacks.
Authorities framed the sentencing and the Galgaduud raid as evidence of a dual-track strategy: closing the pipelines that feed Al-Shabaab’s war chest while eroding its command structure in the field. Officials have argued that sustained pressure on both fronts is critical to blunt the group’s ability to regenerate after losses and to reduce the frequency and lethality of attacks.
Somalia’s security campaign has focused on denying Al-Shabaab territory, disrupting bomb-making cells and dismantling financial networks embedded in local economies. The latest court decision and the targeted operation underscore the government’s message that prosecutions, financial enforcement and kinetic actions will continue in tandem as it seeks to restore stability across the country.
By Ali Musa
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
