CORRECTED-U.S. air strike kills al Qaeda boss in Somalia

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - A U.S. air strike killed an Islamistcommander thought to be al Qaeda's leader in Somalia and atleast a dozen other people on Thursday, the insurgents andwitnesses said.

Aden Hashi Ayro, who led al Shabaab militants blamed fornear daily attacks on government troops and their Ethiopianallies, died in the latest of several U.S. bombings in recentmonths to have targeted Somali rebel leaders.

"Infidel planes bombed Dusamareb," Shabaab spokesmanMukhtar Ali Robow told Reuters by telephone, referring to asmall town in central Somalia. "Two of our important people,including Ayro, were killed."

Fighting between the Islamists and allied Somali-Ethiopiantroops has intensified in recent weeks, with an Iraq-styleinsurgency in Mogadishu and the rebels launching hit-and-runraids outside the capital.

Dusamareb residents said several other Shabaab fighters andcivilians were killed in a pre-dawn air strike. Localbroadcaster Shabelle said insurgent leaders had been meetingthere and put the total death toll at 15.

"Bits of human flesh are scattered on the ruins of thebuilding," witness Farah Hussein told Reuters. "People arecounting the skulls to know the exact figure."

Amina Warsame, another local, said residents were woken ataround 2 a.m. (12 a.m. British time) by two huge blasts.

She said she and her neighbours counted four planesoverhead. Shabelle said they were U.S. AC-130 gunships.

BIN LADEN

Security and intelligence sources say Ayro, who has been inhiding since he survived a U.S. air strike in January 2007,became al Qaeda's leader in Somalia after training inAfghanistan in the late 1990s.

He was one of six members or associates of al Qaeda thoughtby the United States to be in Somalia.

In late February, Washington officially listed the Shabaabas a terrorist organisation, saying it had close ties to Osamabin Laden's network.

The al Shabaab is the militant wing of the Somalia IslamicCourts Council that took over most of southern Somalia for thesecond half of 2006, until the interim government and Ethiopianforces routed it in a two-week war.

Under Ayro, the Shabaab had adopted Iraq-style tactics,including assassinations and roadside bombs and claimed atleast one suicide bombing -- unheard of in Somalia's moderateSufi Islamic customs.

Western security officials and diplomats say it has alsobeen responsible for killing aid workers and journalists, thedesecration of an Italian colonial-era cemetery in 2005 andscores of attacks during the insurgency.

In rare taped comments released in November, Ayro orderedhis fighters to attack a small African Union peacekeeping forcebased in Mogadishu.

Civilians in the city have borne the brunt of fightingbetween the rebels and allied Somali-Ethiopian forces. A localrights group says clashes in the capital killed 6,500 residentslast year alone.

(Writing by Helen Nyambura-Mwaura and Daniel Wallis;Editing by Matthew Tostevin)

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