An al Shabaab attack on a religious center in Galkayo town in central Somalia has left at least a dozen people dead and several others injured. According to HUMINT the militants rammed a car-lade with explosives to the religious centers and following the attacks with a gunfight that left a controversial cleric and his followers dead.
Sheikh Abdiweli Sheikh Elmi Yare was killed in the early morning attack alongside his followers in the attack now claimed by al Shabaab who said that the cleric has been fostering unIslamic teachings to his followers. The attack killed Sheikh Abdiweli Ali Elmi, who has hundreds of followers and has been controversial because videos show him and his followers chanting religious poems with music, which some extremists say is not Islamic. Sheikh Elmi had defended his actions, saying music is not contrary to Islamic teachings.
Al Shabaab which seeks to establish a state governed by strict sharia laws appears to be targeting clerics and individuals that appear to go against the teachings the terror group is seeking to cultivate. The attack comes barely a week since the militants suffered heavy losses with over 50 of them killed in US airstrikes.
