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Somalia al Shabaab
Terrorist
groups
al Qaeda in Somalia
al Shabaab
Affiliated with
al Qaeda. Al Shabaab is also known as al Qaeda in
Somalia
Al
Shabaab: AKA Al Qaeda in Somalia, "The Youth"
On May 1, 2008 a U.S. air strike hit it's target
in Somalia. It was Aden Hashi Ayro, who led al Shabaab
militants that have been blamed for attacks on government troops
and their Ethiopian allies that have assisted the Somali
government in the past fight against the Islamist militant group.
The death is being taken very hard by members who promise to carry
on their fight with a new leader that is chosen.
Somalia-based al Qaeda operatives were suspected of carrying out
two suicide attacks in
Kenya that killed 224 people at the U.S. embassy in 1998
and 15 at an Israeli-owned beach hotel in 2002. The embassy
attacks led President Bill Clinton to the final decision to
bomb al Qaeda training camps in Sudan and Afghanistan where
militants like Ayro later trained and gained expertise in Islamic
warfare under al Qaeda central leadership. President Bush
has ordered strikes in the region in the past few years that have
targeted personnel as well as other military targets inside
Somalia. The State department
has long believed that Somalia, especially the Mogadishu area, is
a breeding ground for Islamic terrorist fighters. On
February 29, 2008, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice designated
al-Shabaab (aka al-Shabab, aka Shabaab, aka the Youth, aka
Mujahidin al-Shabaab Movement, aka Mujahideen Youth Movement, aka
Mujahidin Youth Movement, aka MYM, aka Harakat Shabab al-Mujahidin,
aka Hizbul Shabaab, aka Hisb’ul Shabaab, aka al-Shabaab al-Islamiya,
aka Youth Wing, aka al Shabaab al-Islaam, aka al-Shabaab al-Jihaad,
aka the Unity of Islamic Youth) as a Foreign Terrorist
Organization under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality
Act
Sheikh Muktar Robow, an al-Shabaab leader, apparently
welcomes State’s designation as he stated to the BBC:
“Al-Shabab feels honoured to be included on the list. We are
good Muslims and the Americans are infidels. We are on the right
path,” he said.
Who is Al
Shabaab?
Al-Shabaab is a
violent and brutal extremist group with a number of individuals
affiliated with al-Qaida. Many of its senior leaders are believed
to have trained and fought with al-Qaida in Afghanistan. Al
Shabaab is the armed wing of the Somalia Islamic Courts Council
that took over most of southern Somalia for six months in 2006,
until government troops backed by Ethiopian forces routed it in a
two-week war.
Al-Shabaab has used intimidation and violence to undermine the
Somali government and threatened civil society activists working
to bring about peace through political dialogue and
reconciliation. The group scattered leaflets on the streets of
Mogadishu warning participants in last year’s reconciliation
conference that they intended to bomb the conference venue. Al-Shabaab
promised to shoot anyone planning to attend the conference and to
blow up delegates’ cars and hotels. Although al-Shabaab did not
carry out these particular threats, the group has claimed
responsibility for shooting Deputy District Administrators, as
well as several bombings and shootings in Mogadishu targeting
Ethiopian troops and Somali government officials. Al-Shabaab’s
leader, Aden Hashi Ayrow, has ordered his fighters to attack
African Union (AU) troops based in Mogadishu. Ayrow has also
called for foreign fighters to join al-Shabaab in their fight in
Somalia. Given the threat that al-Shabaab poses, the designation
will raise awareness of al-Shabaab’s activities and help undercut
the group’s ability to threaten targets in and destabilize the
Horn of Africa region.
Leadership
of Al Shabaab
The leader of al Shabaab until early this morning
was Aden Hashi Ayro (Aden Hashi Farah
"Eyrow" (also spelled Ayrow ). He was a member of the
Ayr subclan in Somailia. He joined the Islamic Court in the
mid 1990's. He would attend training camps in Afghanistan
and was trained in explosives and insurgency tactics that would
assist the Islamic Courts Union after his return to Somalia in
2003. Al Shabaab was initially set up to protect
leaders and group members of the Somali Islamic Courts and to
carry our assassinations of foreign targets. Ayro was hand
picked to go to Afghanistan by Sheikh
Hassan Dahir Aweys. Aweys was the leader of the Shura
Islamic Courts Union of Somalia. This group aim is to create
am Islamic state in Somalia that is ruled by Islamic sharia law.
Aweys is believed to be part of the group that carried out the
bombings of the two U.S. bombings in 1998.The group
has looted villages and towns leaving a path of destruction in
it's wake since it began offensive operations. It is thought
that Ayro sent hundreds of his Islamic fighters to Lebanon to
fight against Israel in 2006. This group has a blend of
Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya members that
are associated closely with al Qaeda. This fact concludes
that a new leader will be named quickly with a revenge attack to
follow as a show of force.
A quick video covering the current
situation of terrorist groups including al Shabaab and their
attempts to continue to disrupt Somalia. The Islamic
extremist groups are attempting to overthrow the current
government and to instill Islamic law throughout Somalia. In
their quest they have murdered, looted and left a destructive path
wherever they attack. Islamic Terrorists are growing and
well established threat that has been brewing since the early
1990's in Somalia.
Garowe Online - HomeA
Toyota pickup truck loaded with explosives struck a gated
checkpoint where African Union peacekeepers stood guard
Tuesday, killing the suicide bomber and a peacekeeper from
Burundi, sources said. A spokesman for the Somali
militant group, al Shabaab, promptly phoned Mogadishu-based
radio stations to claim responsibility for the suicide car
bomb attack on the AU peacekeepers.
Africa Front A
collection of articles and information related to Africa
concerning terrorism, societal issues, and interesting events
in the continent.
Terrorism Groups In
depth looks at terrorist organizations throughout the world.
Africa
and IslamA look at
the African Continent and Islam and the locations where
Islamist Terrorists have a safe haven from the rest of the
World
Al- QaidaAl-Qa’ida was established by
Usama Bin Ladin in 1988 with Arabs who fought in Afghanistan
against the Soviet Union. Mujahideen, Muslim fighters
who fought the Soviets following their 1979 invasion of
Afghanistan, were Al Qaeda's original primary membership base
