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Tag: al-Shabab

  • Kenyan Bus Explosion: Attacks Continue Saturday

    A mini bus and nearby cars in Nairobi, Kenya were left in pieces today after an unconfirmed explosive device exploded inside of the traveling mini bus. Reuters tells us that four people were killed while 36 were left wounded in the fourth Kenyan attack this week.

    The sudden blast turned car parts into shrapnel to quickly transform a normal day into a tragedy. Officials are still working to determine if the explosive was thrown onto or already on the bus.

    This week should be one of celebration for Kenya; they are celebrating its 50th year of independence from Britain. The attackers or force behind the string of attacks is still unknown, so the statement behind them is undetermined.

    A summary of this week’s attacks:

    -On Tuesday, gunmen riddle a police car with bullets leaving eight people dead near the Somalian border.

    -A grenade was hurled at British tourists Thursday– the day of the Kenyan Independence Day. The grenade thankfully malfunctioned, but caused alarm to tourists who were once considered exempt from terrorist activity in Kenya.

    -Masked men threw two grenades into a northeastern Kenyan marketplace Friday killing one person and injuring more.

    The attackers are officially unknown, but the attacks mirror a September 21st attack by a Somali militant group by the name of al-Shabab. The Westgate attack killed at least 67 people in a four-day period, and al-Shabab told Kenya that such attacks will continue until they discontinue any involvement with Somalian affairs. Kenya currently is an asylum for 475,000 Somali refugees.

    Time will tell if these attacks continue. The United Nations, Kenya and Somalia have recently promised to assist any Somalians if they decide to return to their homeland. If this does not reduce the attacks on Kenya, further research is certainly in order to discover the source and reasoning behind these horrific attacks.

    [image: Youtube]

  • Navy SEALs Somalia Assault Raises Strategic Questions

    Yesterday, Navy SEAL Team Six raided an al-Shabaab HQ in Barawe, Somalia. Although none of the SEALs were killed in the assault, a series of conflicting reports about the raid’s target were released, some of which claiming the individual was captured while others were claiming he died in the firefight. The raid was aborted as a failure.

    Despite conflicting reports, the SEAL team leader decided that the fighting was too hot, and after 20 minutes of gunfire, the SEAL team swam away. Somali intelligence officials have claimed, according to CBS News, that the SEAL team was targeting the leader of the al-Shabaab Islamist faction in Somalia, Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr AKA Ahmed Godane; however, an al-Shabaab official by the name of Sheikh Abdiaziz Abu Musab said via audio message that the raid had failed in its goal.

    The strike in Somalia by Navy SEAL Team Six was a part of a coordinated response to the Nairobi Westgate Mall attacks. The failed raid was part of a two-pronged response, with the second staged in Libya just hours after SEAL Team Six pulled out. The Libyan strike was targeting an al Qaeda leader associated with the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

    The Libyan raid, unlike the Somali one, was considered a huge success. Navy SEAL teams surrounded a house in Tripoli containing Anu Abas al-Liby, the al-Qaeda leader who claimed responsibility for the Embassy bombings. Liby had previously been indicted for his role in the bombings.

    The CS Monitor noted an interesting dichotomy: until recently, the Obama administration’s primary method of fighting terror abroad was authorized drone strikes. Having conducted hundreds of drone strikes during his presidency, Obama sought to decrease their frequency. Whereas 2010 saw 117 drone strikes in Pakistan alone, this year has seen only 46 Pakistani strikes while Yemen only endured 10 strikes this year. With these recent Navy SEAL raids, is the Obama administration changing tactics in the War on Terror?

    Obama recently acknowledged the deep resentment felt by the international community with regard to U.S. drone policy: “To say a military tactic is legal, or even effective, is not to say it is wise or moral in every instance,” Obama said in a speech at the National Defense University. “For the same human progress that gives us the technology to strike half a world away also demands the discipline to constrain that power – or risk abusing it.”

    [Image via a KTN YouTube news report of the raids]

  • Al-Shabaab Refuge Raided by US Navy SEALs

    In the early dark of Saturday, a US Navy SEAL strike in southern Somalia failed to obtain the intended target, Associated Press reports. The objective, an unidentified leader of the militant group al-Shabaab, is connected to the late September mall attack in Nairobi, Kenya.

    US military officials, speaking to AP, have confirmed the raids but released little other information so far and the Pentagon apparently declined to comment. The raid in Barawe, a town on the southern Somali coast about 150 miles south of Mogadishu, hit before morning prayers and had as its intended, “high-profile,” targets.

    No Americans were killed in the strike. Early reports on the raid indicated the al-Shabaab leader may have been killed in raid gunfire but little has surfaced since to confirm that, and the team is said to have been forced to withdraw before his status could be verified. Confusion also surfaced about what nations contributed fighters to conduct the attack in the small fishing town. The firefight lasted for more than an hour, drawing on aerial support from helicopters. A Somali government official says that his government, “was pre-informed about the attack.”

    This same town was the scene of a SEAL raid four years ago in which a high value al-Qa’ida operative named Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan was killed.

    Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the mall attack two weeks ago in which over 60 people were killed. The group has committed to other violence against neighboring Kenya which placed troops in Somalia two years ago in an effort to thwart al-Shabaab intentions to enforce strict Islamic law in the tormented nation.

    Since 2011, the group has mostly withdrawn from Mogadishu, finding refuge in towns like Barawe. The New York Times records a US security official as stating that the raid, “was planned a week and a half ago,” confirming that it was in response to the violence in Nairobi.

    A spokesman for al-Shabaab reported that one of its members was killed in the raid but says the militants beat back the SEALs.

    [Image via CIA World Factbook and YouTube.]

  • Al-Shabab Takes Credit for Mall Attack on Twitter

    Al-Shabab Takes Credit for Mall Attack on Twitter

    At least 39 people were killed when a Somali-based terror group opened fire at a mall in Kenya. The Al Qaeda-linked group Al-Shabab (also listed as “Al-Shabaab”) claimed responsibility for the shootings on Twitter. The group was reportedly live tweeting the shooting under the username @HSM_Press. The account has since been suspended.

    The terror group claims that the attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya was a revenge attack that targeted non-Muslims. The following statements were copied from the Twitter account before it was suspended:

    HSM has on numerous occasions warned the #Kenyan government that failure to remove its forces from Somalia would have severe consequences.

    The Mujahideen entered #Westgate Mall today at around noon and are still inside the mall, fighting the #Kenyan Kuffar (infidels) inside their own turf.

    What Kenyans are witnessing at #Westgate is retributive justice for crimes committed by their military.

    The attack at #WestGateMall just a very tiny fraction of what Muslims in Somalia experience at the hands of Kenyan invaders.

    After enough users reported the Twitter account, it was eventually suspended for violating the terms of service. Some Twitter users claimed to see the live tweets posted by Al-Shabab:

    Al-Shabab shooters entered the Kenya mall around noon, throwing hand grenades and firing rifles. According to the BBC, a children’s event was being held at the mall at that time. The Kenyan police and military responded to the shootings, but the gunmen still have hostages at the time of this posting.

    Witness Manish Turohit, 18, was able to avoid injury and gave his account of what happened. “They just came in and threw a grenade,” he said. “We were running and they opened fire. They were shouting and firing.” Turohit also said that the shooters were carrying AK-47s and had on vests with hand grenades attached.

    The Somali terror group Al-Shabab also took responsibility for an attack in Somali earlier this month that left 15 people dead. After detonating a car bomb near a restaurant, the bomber then blew himself up as people gathered around.

    Image via YouTube

  • Omar Hammami, American Jihadi, Reported Dead

    Omar Hammami, better known as Abu Monsoor Al-Almriki (“the American”), has reportedly been shot dead in the southern bay area of Somalia. Hammami has been reported dead on numerous occasions, but close contact and terrorism expert J.M. Berger believes that reports of Hammami’s death this time are accurate.

    Hammami left his hometown of Daphne, Alabama in 2006 to pursue a life as a self-proclaimed terrorist in Somalia in 2006. There, Hammami joined the al-Qaeda linked terrorist group al-Shabab. While Hammami did help organize military operations and actively fought for the rebels, he served mainly as a recruiting tool to pull foreigners into al-Shabab, mainly through his use of rap and social media. Hammami’s online presence gave him the nickname the “Rapping Jihadist”:

    Hammami had been fearing for his life for months now, after falling out with the leaders of al-Shabab. In April of 2012, Hammami tweeted that he had been shot in the neck by assassins sent by Godane, al-Shabab’s leader. Leaders of al-Shabab were upset with Hammami due to his criticism concerning their use of tax money collected from Somalis and Hammami’s criticism that Godane was oppressing Muslims in order to simply win control of Somalia . Those factors, coupled with growing antagonism toward foreign militants, are perhaps what led to al-Shabab hunting Hammami down and killing him.

    Hammami has been on America’s Most Wanted Terrorists list since March and had a $5 million reward for information leading to his whereabouts. Along with Adam Gadahn, a former bin Laden spokesman in Pakistan, Hammami is considered the most dangerous Americans in a jihad group due to his wide sphere of influence and connections.

    Earlier this month, Hammami appeared to make positive steps by denouncing his ties with al-Shabab and al-Qaeda. However, when asked if he would be willing to talk to US officials, Hammami said the following: “I’m openly not from Shabab, I’m openly not from al-Qaida, but I’m definitely a terrorist, so they’re just going to end up changing my sentence from being affiliated with al-Qaida to being affiliated with terrorism, so it doesn’t really matter whether I speak or not.”

    In an interview with Voice of America, Hammami was also asked whether or not he would ever return to the US. Hammami replied “that is not an option unless it’s in a body bag.” It looks like he is going to get his wish.

    Image via YouTube