A senior Al-Shabaab commander and at one-time the terror group’s deputy leader who recently surrendered to the Federal Government security forces on Tuesday reportedly called on other Shebab fighters to quit the group.
Mukhtar Robow Abu Mansur quit Al-Shabaab terrorist group to the government side in Mogadishu following several attempts by the Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Shabaab to kill him on suspicion of working with SNA and allied forces to weaken the extremist group.
Mukhtar Robow Abu Mansur, who was also Al-Shabaab’s spokesman, was quoted saying that Al-Shabaab group did not represent the interests of those it claimed to.
“I left Al-Shabaab because of misunderstanding, and I disagreed with their creed which does not serve Islamic religion, people and the country,” he said.
“I urge the militants to leave Al-Shabaab,” Robow was cited by various media and open sources at a heavily guarded hotel in Mogadishu.
Robow fell out with Al-Shabaab in 2013 and has been keeping a low profile in the jungles with his forces until defecting last week. The Islamists fighters have launched multiple attacks to try kill or capture him.
The defection is expected to boost and give pro-government forces more freedom to operate in the regions of Bay and Bakool, cutting Al-Shabaab’s operational territory in two.
