Gouled Hassan Dourad
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gouled Hassan Dourad (born 1974) is a Somali-born terrorist who is currently under United States detention at the Guantánamo Bay detainment camp on Cuba.
According to the United States Director of National Intelligence, Gouled was the head of the Mogadishu-based facilitation network of al-Itihaad al-Islamiya (AIAI) members that supported al-Qaeda members in Somalia[1]. Gouled was a member of a small, selective group of AIAI members who worked for the East African al-Qaida cell led by Abu Talha al-Sudani. Gouled's responsibilites included locating safehouses, assisting in the transfer of funds, and procuring weapons, explosives and other supplies[1]. Gouled was privy to several terrorist plots under consideration by his AIAI cell, including shooting down an Ethiopian jetliner landing at an airport in Somalia in 2003 and kidnapping Western NGO-workers in Hargeysa, Somalia, in 2002 as a means to raise money for future AIAI operations[1]. Following Gouled's arrest, AIAI terrorists on March 19, 2004, tried unsuccessfully to kidnap a German aid worker and murdered a Kenyan contracy employee in Hargeysa[1].
Gouled was born in Mogadishu, Somalia. When the Somali Civil War erupted in 1991, his parents sent him to Germany where he lived in a refugee camp. He traveled to Sweden and gained asylym there in 1993. In 1994 he attempted travel to the United States but was turned back in Iceland because of his fraudalent passport. While in Sweden, Gouled attented a Somali mosque, whose imam arranged for Gouled and his friend, future AIAI bombmaker Qasim Mohamed, to train in Afghanistan before joining the Somali war effort. Gouled trained at the Khalden camp in weapons and explosives from January through October 1996, and at another camp in Khost in assassination techniques for several months. By late 1996 he returned to Somalia.
Gouled became a member of AIAI in 1997 out of a commitment to support the Somali war against Ethiopia and to win the Ogaden region of Ethiopia back to Somalia. He fought against the Ethiopians in Ogaden off and on from 1997 to 2002 and trained AIAI fighters. He allegedly became associated with al-Qaeda because its members were in Somalia and his AIAI cell supported the al-Qaeda. Gouled was introduced to Abu Talha al-Sudani, who came to Mogadishu to hide following the Mombasa attacks in November 2003, in early 2003 by his AIAI cell leader. Gouled was recruited to work for al-Sudani, in part, because he had trained in Afghanistan: spoke Arabic, English, some Swedish and Somali, and had a high-school eduction.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Office of the Director of National Intelligence (2006-09-06). Biographies of High Value Terrorist Detainees Transferred to the US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay (PDF). Press release. Retrieved on 2006-12-16.
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Dourad, Gouled Hassan |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Guantanamo Bay detainee |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1974 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Mogadishu, Somalia |
| DATE OF DEATH | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
