March 22 (Reuters) - The Somali government said Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network has named militant Islamist militia commander Aden Hashi Ayro as its representative in Mogadishu.

Here are some key facts about Ayro, who is believed to be in his early 30s:

* Reportedly trained in assassination and insurgency in Afghanistan in the late 1990s, Ayro later came to attention when he was linked to the murders of four aid workers in Somaliland, and more than a dozen Somalis with Western links.

* The United States has long accused him and his militia of links to al Qaeda, through his mentor Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys. Aweys was a top Islamist leader until the New Year when the interim Somali government defeated his group with Ethiopian military help. Aweys has always denied al Qaeda links, but he was instrumental in promoting Ayro to head the Islamists' military wing.

* Before that, Ayro drew international condemnation for digging up a colonial-era Italian cemetery in Mogadishu in 2005. He reportedly had a makeshift mosque erected on the site, and intelligence experts say he also built a training and command centre there for his fighters.

* Security experts and diplomats say Ayro's assistance to al Qaeda includes providing safe haven, weapons and housing to its members while in Mogadishu. Among those he is said to have helped is Abu Talha al-Sudani, a Sudanese national who is thought to be al Qaeda's east African chief. The United States accuses al-Sudani of financing and directing a 2002 suicide blast at an Israeli-owned hotel on the Kenyan coast.

* Al-Sudani was one of three top al Qaeda operatives which the United States believed was in Somalia. The United States carried out two air strikes aimed at them after the Ethiopian-Somali government alliance cornered the Islamists in Somalia's southern tip in early January. Ayro's personal effects were found at the site of the first attack, and military officials said they believed he was injured in the assault by an AC-130 gunship.

* The U.S. Ambassador to Kenya, who is also responsible for Somalia, this week said Washington believes Ayro is reorganising his forces and may be carrying out or ordering guerrilla attacks against the government and its allies. But Ambassador Michael Ranneberger also said the daily attacks were not likely to be the work of al Qaeda.

(Writing and reporting by Bryson Hull in Nairobi)

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