Fuad Qalaf

Born in Mogadishu, Qalaf came to Sweden as an asylum seeker in 1992 and later received Swedish citizenship.{{cite news |first=Nuri |last=Kino |authorlink=Nuri Kino |title=Islamistisk ledare värvade i Sverige |url=http://www.metro.se/se/article/2007/04/15/22/3625-42/index.xml |publisher=Metro |date=2007-04-16 |accessdate=2008-03-05 |language=Swedish}}{{cite news |first=Mohamed Abdi |last=Farah |title=Somalia: abroad Somali communities urged to return home for Jihad |url=http://somalinet.com/news/world/English/4203 |publisher=SomaliNet |date=2006-10-11 |accessdate=2006-12-27 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20061018090755/http://somalinet.com/news/world/English/4203 |archivedate=2006-10-18 }} Qalaf comes from the Harti sub-clan of the wider Darod. He lived in Sweden for twelve years, most of the time preaching as an Imam at mosque in the Rinkeby district in Stockholm (Swedish: Rinkebymoskén).{{Cite book|url=https://www.fhs.se/download/18.7df9907163ed7475b4abe94/1530198487005/F%C3%B6rsvarsh%C3%B6gskolan.%20Mellan%20salafism%20och%20salafistisk%20jihadism_v2.pdf|title=Mellan salafism och salafistisk jihadism - Påverkan mot och utmaningar för det svenska samhället|last=Magnus Ranstorp, Filip Ahlin, Peder Hyllengren, Magnus Normark|publisher=Swedish Defence University|year=|isbn=|location=2018|pages=63|access-date=2018-07-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180704214212/https://www.fhs.se/download/18.7df9907163ed7475b4abe94/1530198487005/F%C3%B6rsvarsh%C3%B6gskolan.%20Mellan%20salafism%20och%20salafistisk%20jihadism_v2.pdf|archive-date=2018-07-04|url-status=dead}} As such, he worked to influence young Muslims about Jihad. He was openly sympathetic towards al-Qaeda and collected money towards financing the Islamic Courts Union in Somalia as well as recruiting youth to both the Islamic Courts Union and later also to al-Shabaab. He was also a prolific lecturer at the Bellevue Mosque in Gothenburg.

In 2004, Qalaf returned to Somalia together with his family during the rise of the Islamic Courts Union. Following the conquest of Mogadishu in mid-2006, Qalaf went on to serve in the Department of Education under the newly formed ICU-government. After the Ethiopian invasion of Somalia in December 2006 and the subsequent fall of the ICU-government, Qalaf and other ICU leaders fled the country.{{cite news|first=Abdulkadir |last=Khalif |title=West 'backing the wrong horse' in Mogadishu peace initiatives |url=http://www.nationmedia.com/eastafrican/current/News/news2901200710.htm |publisher=The East African |date=2007-01-29 |accessdate=2007-02-02 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070202014246/http://www.nationmedia.com/eastafrican/current/News/news2901200710.htm |archivedate=February 2, 2007 }} In April 2007, he was reported to be living in Kenya. Qalaf returned to Somalia again during 2007/2008 to be a prominent leader in Al-Shabaab. He was alleged to be behind the killing of Aisha Duhulow in Kismayo during late 2008. In 2010, he was the target of two different assassination attempts. Hizbul Islam, an Islamist group then rivaling Al-Shabaab, reportedly targeted him with a road side bomb in February of that year. In May, he was targeted by unknown assailants in the Bakaara Market of Mogadishu. By the end of 2010, Qalaf became the first senior figure in the organization publicly criticized the leader of Al-Shabaab, Ahmed Godane, for having “hidden agendas,” after the Al-Shabaab attacked Hizbul Islam forces. Qalaf increasingly split with Godane due to attacks he carried out on Hizbul Islam while its leader, Hassan Dahir Aweys, was negotiating with Al-Shabaab. Godane opposed a Hizbul Islam/Al-Shabaab merger, while Qalaf supported it.

By 2011, Qalaf had risen to become the leader of the groups operations in Puntland. That year he also publicly described suicide bombing as unlawful and began adopting a more conciliatory tone towards the TFG. He warned Al-Shabaab fighters to stop assassinating people 'on mere suspicion of working for the government' as it was a great sin. During a speech in Mogadishu during January 2011, Qalaf stated that TFG would potentially be able to lead the country, in accordance with sharia (Islamic law), together with Al Shabab.{{Cite news |last=Gure |first=Ahmed Muse |date=25 January 2011 |title=Fu'ad Shongole calls out to support the Somali government |url=http://www.somaliweyn.org/pages/news/Jan_11/25Jan31.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110128234814/http://www.somaliweyn.org/pages/news/Jan_11/25Jan31.html |archive-date=28 January 2011 |work=Somaliweyn}}

During June 2012, the United States government put out its first bounty on Qalaf. He publicly stated that year that Al-Shabaab would stop 'caning' people for perceived transgressions against sharia.{{Cite news |date=2013-08-21 |title=Somalia: Al-Shabab 'to stop caning civilians' |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-23784995 |access-date=2024-11-11 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}} In May 2013, Fuad Qalaf confirmed that al Shabaab had killed American jihadist Omar Hammami (aka Abu Mansoor Al-Amriki) and several other foreign fighters in Bay region. In May 2014, Qalaf stated that al-Shabab fighters would carry out jihad, or holy war, in Kenya and Uganda "and afterward, with God's will, to America."[https://www.foxnews.com/world/somali-extremist-leader-threatens-us-kenya-uganda-with-more-attacks/ Fox news: "Somali extremist leader threatens US, Kenya, Uganda with more attacks"] May 22, 2014

In 2021, the United States government put a $6 million dollar bounty for information that could lead to Qalafs capture.{{Cite web |date=2020-06-30 |title=Somalia: US places $6 million bounty on top Al-Shabaab leaders |url=https://www.garoweonline.com/en/news/somalia/somalia-us-places-6-million-bounty-on-top-al-shabaab-leaders |access-date=2023-09-14 |website=Garowe Online |language=en}} Following al-Shabaab's 2022 invasion into Ethiopia, Major General Tesfaye Ayalew of the Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF) claimed to have killed Qalaf{{Cite web |date=2022-07-30 |title=Ethiopia says it has killed top Al-Shabaab leaders in attack |url=https://www.keydmedia.net/news/ethiopia-says-it-has-killed-top-al-shabaab-leaders-in-attack |access-date=2023-09-14 |website=KEYDMEDIA ONLINE}}{{Cite web |last=Kulkarni |first=Pavan |date=2022-08-01 |title=Key Al-Shabaab leaders killed in attacks along Ethiopia-Somalia border |url=https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/08/01/key-al-shabaab-leaders-killed-in-attacks-along-ethiopia-somalia-border/ |access-date=2023-09-14 |website=Peoples Dispatch |language=en-US}} in an airstrike on 29 July 2022.{{Cite web |title=Gulf of Aden Security Review – August 5, 2022 |url=https://www.criticalthreats.org/briefs/gulf-of-aden-security-review/gulf-of-aden-security-review-august-5-2022 |access-date=2023-09-14 |website=Critical Threats}} On 3 August, Al Shabaab released a voice recording of Qalaf, who denied Ethiopian forces killed him on July 29. He further stated that al Shabaab would continue to attack the Somali Regional Liyu Police.{{Cite web |date=2022-08-04 |title=An influential Al-Shabaab leader denies he was killed by Ethiopia |url=https://www.keydmedia.net/news/an-influential-al-shabaab-leader-denies-he-was-killed-by-ethiopia |access-date=2024-11-11 |website=KEYDMEDIA ONLINE}}

• Ali Mohamed Rage
• Mukthar Robow

{{reflist}}

{{Militant Islamism in Sub-Saharan Africa}}

{{Shabaab}}

{{Al-Qaeda}}

{{War in Somalia (2009–)}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Qalaf, Fuad Mohamed}}

Category:1965 births

Category:Al-Shabaab (militant group) members

Category:Living people

Category:People from Mogadishu

Category:Somalian emigrants to Sweden

Category:Swedish people of Somali descent

Category:Swedish imams

Category:Islamic terrorism in Sweden

Category:Swedish Islamists

Category:Muslims with branch missing

Category:People of the Somali Civil War