Suicide bomber kills 9 in Mogadishu

By Bill Roggio - February 8, 2012 11:32 AM

A Shabaab suicide bomber killed nine Somalis today in an attack outside a hotel in Mogadishu. From Reuters:

A suicide car bomber killed at least nine people Wednesday near a hotel where lawmakers often gather in the Somali capital Mogadishu, police said. Police officer Hassan Ali told Reuters the attacker rammed his vehicle into a cafe by the Hotel Muna, which was also stormed by al Shabaab militants in August 2010 in an attack that killed more than 30 people.
"So far we have carried nine dead civilians and 34 others injured. Up to now we have not seen casualties of any legislators. The death toll may rise," said Ali.
Police and the spokesman for African Union troops in Somalia said initial reports showed that the attacker first opened fire on people sitting near the hotel before detonating the car.

The Aug. 24, 2010 suicide assault on the Hotel Muna was a particularly brazen effort by Shabaab, and was one of several in which Shabaab used a complex attack to target Somali officials. Shabaab has emulated the tactics of other al Qaeda affiliates and allies, including al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, al Qaeda in Iraq, and the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban.
Shabaab has carried out more than 30 major suicide attacks in Somalia since September 2006, when its predecessor, the Islamic Courts Union, usurped control of the government (the Islamic Courts was ousted from power in an invasion by Ethiopian forces in December 2006). Several of the attacks have been carried out by American and British citizens who had left their home countries to join Shabaab.
Shabaab has also executed one suicide attack outside Somalia. A double suicide bombing on July 11, 2010 in Kampala, Uganda, killed 74 people. The suicide cell that carried out the attack, the Saleh ali Nabhan Brigade, is named after the al Qaeda leader who served as Shabaab's military commander before he was killed in a US special operations raid in September 2009.

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2012/02/suicide_bomber_kills_9_in_moga.php?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter#ixzz1lpG3paa9

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Shabaab suicide bomber targets Ethiopian troops

Image via Wikipedia

By Bill Roggio - January 24, 2012 - LWJ

A Shabaab suicide bomber attacked an Ethiopian military compound in western Somalia today, killing an unknown number of troops. Shabaab claimed credit for the attack.

The attack took place in the city of Beledweyne near the border of Ethiopia. Shabaab said the suicide bomber from the "Martyrdom Brigade" targeted "a building known as the Regional Headquarters which housed the Ethiopian army," and claimed more than 200 Ethiopian troops and their officers were stationed there, according to a statement provided by the SITE Intelligence Group.

A local security official told the BBC that Ethiopian soldiers shot and killed the suicide bomber at the gate of the compound. The blast was sufficiently large enough to cause most of the building to collapse, however.

Ethiopian officials have not disclosed the number of casualties. African countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, and Burundi, which have forces in Somalia, often underreport their casualties.
Shabaab claimed that "33 Ethiopian soldiers, including 4 senior commanders" were killed "and up to 72 injured and the number is steadily increasing." The figures provided by Shabaab could not be confirmed, and the terror group is known to exaggerate the results of its operations.

Shabaab said that today's suicide attack "is part of the new strategy adopted by the Mujahideen as a bold response to the increasingly hostile enemies that have invaded Somalia." Shabaab withdrew from Beledweyne weeks ago after Ethiopian forces reentered Somalia in force. Shabaab has also withdrawn from most of the capital of Mogadishu after African Union forces went on the offensive last summer. Shabaab has launched suicide attacks, and conducted ambushes and assassinations in the capital.

Today's suicide attack in Somalia is the second in the war-torn country in the past week. On Jan. 19, a suicide bomber killed six people at a refugee camp in Mogadishu.
Shabaab, which has close ties to al Qaeda and serves as its affiliate in East Africa, and its predecessor, the Islamic Courts Union, have carried out more than 30 suicide attacks in Somalia since they sought to control the country in 2006. At least two of those suicide attacks were carried out by American citizens.

The US has been targeting senior al Qaeda and Shabaab leaders in drone strikes and special operations raids. Just last weekend, US drones killed Bilal al Berjawi, a senior al Qaeda leader who also served as a top commander for Shabaab, in a strike near Mogadishu.

African Union forces have launched offensives against Shabaab on three fronts over the past year, but Shabaab still holds much of central and southern Somalia [see map from BBC]. Ugandan and Burundian troops control of much of Mogadishu after battling Shabaab forces starting last summer. In the fall, Kenyan troops invaded southern Somalia, and took over some border areas. Later in 2011, Ethiopian troops entered Somalia and seized Beledweyne and the surrounding areas.

For more information on Americans and foreigners who are fighting for Shabaab, see LWJ report, American Shabaab fighter and commander pictured together. For more information on Shabaab's links to al Qaeda, see LWJ reports, Somalia's Shabaab vows allegiance to new al Qaeda emir Zawahiri, and Al Qaeda leaders play significant role in Shabaab.

Sources:
Somalia's al-Shabab attack Ethiopian base in Beledweyne, BBC
Somalia: Suicide blast targets Ethiopian military base in Belet-weyn town, Mareeg Online
Truck bomb explodes at Ethiopian base in Somalia, AP

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2012/01/shabaab_suicide_bomb_3.php#ixzz1kQCWWfGf

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British Shabaab operative killed in airstrike in Somalia

Shabaab said that a British national who was " from the early people who came to jihad in Somalia" was killed in a US drone airstrike.
The British citizen, who was identified as Bilal al Berqawi, was "of a Lebanese origin," according to a statement released today by Shabaab's media arm, Al Kata'ib Foundation for Media Production. The statement, which was published on jihadist forums, was translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

By Bill Roggio - January 21, 2012 - LWJ

Shabaab said that a British national who was " from the early people who came to jihad in Somalia" was killed in a US drone airstrike.

The British citizen, who was identified as Bilal al Berqawi, was "of a Lebanese origin," according to a statement released today by Shabaab's media arm, Al Kata'ib Foundation for Media Production. The statement, which was published on jihadist forums, was translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

Shabaab said that Berqawi was killed today, on "Saturday 28 Safar 1433H," and that he had fought in Somalia before the Islamic Courts Union, the predecessor of Shabaab, was formed.
"The martyr, may Allah have mercy on him, was from the early people who came to jihad in Somalia, where he participated in fighting with the warlords and participated in the war against the
Courts and in fighting the African Crusaders," according to that statement.

"The martyr received what he wished for and what he went out for ... when, in the afternoon today, brother Bilal al-Berqawi was exposed to bombing in an outskirt of Mogadishu from a drone that is believed to be American," the statement continued.

The report did not indicate where Berqawi was killed. It is unclear if the US conducted the strike. Kenyan and Ethiopian aircraft have been conducting airstrikes in Somalia.

Although US attack aircraft and drones conduct operations over Somalia, reports of strikes are difficult to confirm. The last confirmed US strike took place on June 25, 2011, when Predators attacked a training camp outside of Kismayo. Ibrahim al Afghani, a senior Shabaab commander who fought in Afghanistan and has close ties with al Qaeda, is rumored to have been killed in the attack, but the report was never confirmed. Shabaab did not release a statement announcing his death.

The US military's Joint Special Operations Command and the CIA are known to operate the armed Predators and Reapers from bases in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa, Arba Minch in Ethiopia, the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean, and a base in an unnamed country on the Arabian Peninsula. The bases are to be used to attack al Qaeda affiliates Shabaab, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2012/01/british_shabaab_oper.php

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• British Shabaab operative killed in airstrike in Somalia (longwarjournal.org)

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