A U.S. airstrike in Somalia killed a leader in the Somali insurgency, media reported May 1. The attack reveals active counterterrorism coordination by the United States in Somalia, where the United States has carried out a limited number of ineffective airstrikes based on poor intelligence since the Ethiopian intervention in December 2006. The May 1 strike indicates that this intelligence deficiency has been remedied. The U.S. airstrike took place in the central Somalian town of Dusamareb and reportedly killed Aden Hashi Ayro, a tactical commander of the al-Shabaab militant wing of the Supreme Islamic Courts Council (SICC). Residents reported that the attack occurred around 2 a.m. local time May 1 and was carried out by at least one AC-130 gunship, a tool of choice for U.S. strikes in Somalia. It is likely the AC-130 was forward-deployed from Djibouti — where the United States bases its Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa operation — to an air base in Ethiopia, similar to U.S. airstrikes in Somalia conducted in March 2008 and in January 2007. Though the SICC that controlled central and southern Somalia in the second half of 2006 was ejected from power by the Ethiopians, it was not defeated militarily. Its political leadership fled into exile in Asmara, Eritrea, while its militant wing went underground in Mogadishu and into the countryside in southern and central parts of the country. The al-Shabaab, believed to be 6,000 to 7,000 strong and operating in units of several hundred, has conducted small-scale assaults against Somalian government and Ethiopian military targets in Mogadishu and has used hit-and-run tactics to take over towns and villages throughout the countryside, pulling out hours or days later before government reinforcements arrive. Ayro, who had links to al Qaeda and was considered al-Shabaab’s chief tactician, commanded a following of hard-core Somali youth from whom a replacement militant leader will likely emerge. Sources told STRATFOR that Ayro had arrived in Dusamareb sometime between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m., only a few hours before the strike occurred. He had traveled from the central Somalian town of el-Buur and was holed up in a house, believed to be meeting with seven other al-Shabaab members when the aircraft struck. Senior Somalian government officials reportedly provided the intelligence that tipped off Ayro’s location to U.S. forces. The intelligence is believed to have come from a politician in Ayro’s clan — which is a sub-clan of the dominant Hawiye tribe — for a steep price, likely considerably more than the $10,000 starting rate for tips on lesser combatants. Selling out a fellow tribesman is not unusual in Somalia, though the May 1 strike indicates that the Somalian government and U.S. forces are actively coordinating intelligence gathering and sharing. Previous U.S. airstrikes such as the March 3 attack against al-Shabaab strategic commander Sheikh Hassan Turki failed to kill their intended targets. The airstrike comes at a time when the lingering Somalian insurgency was expected to heat up. Despite the sustained intervention by more than 10,000 Ethiopian troops and a lesser number of African Union peacekeepers, continuing attacks by the unbowed SICC triggered a trip by Somalian President Abdullahi Yusuf to Washington in April to secure greater counterterrorism cooperation with the United States. Ayro’s tactical capabilities will not easily be replaced, but the overall strategic orchestration of the Somalian insurgency remains in place, led by Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, the overall SICC head, and Turki, the al-Shabaab strategic commander. The two are long allies, with Aweys believed to be in exile in Asmara and Turki thought to be operating out of ungoverned territory in southern Somalia near the Kenyan border. The strike against Ayro will likely cause the SICC political and militant leadership, which is planning to hold a strategy session May 10 in Djibouti, to reconsider its meeting plans. Whether they hold the meeting or not, the SICC insurgents are unlikely to yield in their efforts to overthrow the Ethiopian-backed government of Somalia.