Somali rebel boss hurt, may be dead

By Abdi Sheikh and Abdi Guled

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - A Somali Islamist rebel leader on U.S. and U.N. terrorism lists is seriously injured from fighting between rival Islamist groups and may be dead, a family member and a militia opposed to him said on Sunday.

Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys' own insurgent movement, Hizbul Islam, denied the reports of his death as "propaganda".

If true, Aweys' death would be a major blow to the Islamist rebels and a boost for President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed's Western-backed government, which had tried unsuccessfully to broker peace talks with the 62-year-old cleric.

Aweys, whom western security services say is close to al Qaeda, is a father figure to the insurgents in Somalia, where he has headed various Islamist groups since the 1990s.

"We understand that Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys was brought yesterday to his brother's house," a family member, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters.

"We were denied access but confirmed there were doctors in the area ... The mood looks like he is dead. The whole area is surrounded by gunmen and there is no access," he added, of the house close to Mogadishu's football stadium.

The government-allied moderate Islamist militia Ahla Sunna Waljamaca said its fighters shot Aweys during battles in Wabho town on Friday, and that he died of wounds later.

There were also rumours among militia fighters that another rebel leader, Sheikh Hassan Abdullah Hersi al-Turki, was among the 123 combatants who died in the fighting around Wabho.