American Shabaab fighter urges Muslims to join the 'fronts' of jihad

by Bill Roggio - February 27, 2013. -  LWJ


 A previously unidentified American who fights in the ranks of Shabaab, al Qaeda's affiliate in Somalia, appeared on a videotape and urged Muslims to join one of the numerous fronts of the global jihad.

The American, who is identified as Abu Ahmed al Amriki, is seen on a videotape that was produced by Shabaab's media arm and posted on jihadist Internet forums on Feb. 25. The video was obtained and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.
Abu Ahmed speaks in both English and Arabic, and appears with two Kenyan jihadists, who are identified as Abu Seyf al Kenyi and Abu Khaled al Kenyi. Abu Ahmed's face is digitally blurred in the video. He is seen seated with a group of armed fighters; he is also holding a rifle as he speaks.
In his speech, Abu Ahmed implores Muslims to leave their lives of comfort and wage jihad in Somalia, Mali, Afghanistan, Iraq, or the "Islamic Maghreb" -- North Africa.
"Brothers and sisters, I won't take much of your time, but it's obligatory upon you to leave the lands of [disbelief] and [emigrate]. The fronts, they are all open, whether it's here in Somalia, whether it's in Mali, whether it's in Afghanistan, whether it's in Iraq, or whether it's in the Islamic Maghreb - it's all open," Abu Ahmed says, according to the transcript provided by the SITE Intelligence Group.
He urges Muslims who cannot "emigrate" to "fight the enemies of Allah where you find them ...."
Abu Ahmed claims that the West is losing the war against al Qaeda and its allies, and that a global caliphate will soon arise.
"Victory is coming. Your brothers are gaining strength after strength, victory after victory. The defeat of the [disbelievers] is near," he says.
"America is going down and the Caliphate is rising," he claims.
Abu Ahmed is one of the "Muhajireen" -- the emigrants or foreign fighters who wage jihad in Somalia alongside Shabaab.
Omar Hammami, the American who is better known as Abu Mansour al Amriki, is the most well-known foreign fighter in Somalia. He is feuding with Shabaab, and claims that foreigner fighters are at odds with Shabaab's leaders. Shabaab has disputed the claims, and has countered that Hammami is a narcissistic self-promoter who has taken advantage of his high-profile media presence to sow dissent between the Somali group and foreign fighters. Other than Hammami's claims, there is little evidence to support the assertion that there is a split between Shabaab and the Muhajireen.
Two other prominent Americans waging jihad in Somalia are Abu Abdullah al Muhajir, who is Ayman al Zawahiri's emissary to Shabaab, and Cabdulaahi Ahmed Faarax.
An estimated 50 Somali-Americans are thought to have been recruited in the US to train and fight with Shabaab. At least two Americans have carried out suicide attacks in Somalia, and Shabaab claimed that two other Americans have carried out such attacks.
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.

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American terrorist feels 'life may be endangered' by Shabaab

By Bill Roggio - March 16, 2012 - LWJ

An American who quickly rose through the ranks in Shabaab, al Qaeda's affiliate in Somalia, now says he fears the terror group may kill him.
Omar Hammami, who is also known as Abu Mansour al Amriki ("the American"), released a short, 1:09-minute-long video in which he said he fears Shabaab may kill him due to differences with strategy and the implementation of Islamic law. Hammani's statement was posted by a jihadist known as "somalimuhajirwarrior," or "foreign Somali warrior," on a YouTube website earlier today, the SITE Intelligence Group reported.
"To whomever it may reach from the Muslims, from Abu Mansour al-Amriki, I record this message today because I feel that my life may be endangered by Harakat Shabaab al-Mujahideen due to some differences that occurred between us regarding matters of the Shariah [Islamic law] and matters of the strategy," according to a transcript of the statement that has been provided by the SITE Intelligence Group.

Hammami does not explain the reason for the dispute. Rumors have persisted of divisions in Shabaab over the influence of foreign fighters in the terror group. Shabaab officially merged with al Qaeda in early February after years of operating closely together.
Hammami may have been estranged from Shabaab for several months. SITE notes that Hammami's "last release, an English-language audio lecture titled, 'Lessons Learned,' released in October 2011, was not issued by the Shabaab's media arm, al-Kata'ib, nor did it appear on Shabaab-affiliated websites, but was instead posted by a member of the Ansar al-Mujahideen English Forum (AMEF)."
Hammami has served as a military commander, propagandist, "recruitment strategist, and financial manager" for Shabaab, and is closely linked to al Qaeda, according to the US government. Hammami is on the US's list of specially designated global terrorists.
In May 2011, Hammami spoke at a public rally with other top Shabaab leaders to eulogize Osama bin Laden just 10 days after the death of the al Qaeda leader. During the rally, Hammani appeared with other top al Qaeda-linked Shabaab leaders, including Sheikh Mukhtar Robow Abu Mansour and Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys.
"We are all Osama," Hammami told the crowd as he spoke at a podium. He also said that Shabaab and al Qaeda would continue their jihad to establish a global Islamic caliphate.
"Today, we remind the Muslims that the caliphate [Islamic rule] shall soon be reborn," Hammani said while eulogizing bin Laden. "May Allah accept our dear beloved sheikh [Osama bin Laden] and cause our swords to become instruments of his avenging."
Hammami has played a crucial role in Shabaab's propaganda efforts to recruit Western fighters to join Shabaab's jihad in Somalia. In December 2011 and January 2012, Hammami appeared in photographs with a Western fighter. The Long War Journal identified the fighter as Cabdulaahi Ahmed Faarax, an American who recruited for the terror group and left the US in October 2009 to wage jihad in Somalia. Faarax is wanted by the FBI.
Hammami was reported to have been killed in a US airstrike in March 2011, but one month later he released a nasheed, or song, that mocked the reports. In the clumsy rap, Hammami said he wanted to die in a US airstrike or special operations raid, like other top al Qaeda leaders such as Abu Laith al Libi, Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, and Abu Musab al Zarqawi.
For more information on Hammami, see LWJ reports, American Shabaab commander speaks at rally for Osama bin Laden in Somalia and US adds American, Kenyan Shabaab leaders to list of designated terrorists.

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2012/03/american_terrorist_f.php#ixzz1pKiOnnNf

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Somali Islamist group formally declares allegiance to Shabaab, al Qaeda

By Bill Roggio - February 25, 2012. - LWJ

A senior Islamist commander and weapons smuggler in northern Somalia who has long been tied to Shabaab has officially declared allegiance to the terror group and al Qaeda.

The merger was confirmed by Shabaab at its official Twitter account, HSM Press Office [Harakat Al Shabaab Al Mujahideen Press Office], as well as with a radio statement by a senior Islamist leader from the semi-autonomous region of Puntland in northern Somalia.

"Following the London Conference, the Mujahideen in Galgala area of Puntland have officially become part of Harakat Al-Shabaab Al Mujahideen," the first tweet from HSM Press Office declared.

"The Mujahideen in Northern #Somalia have now formally pledged allegiance to Sh. Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr, Emir of Harakat Al-Shabaab Al Mujahideen," it continued.

"Apart from reigning over the Golis Mountain range, Mujahideen control several towns/villages surrounding Bosaaso, commercial hub of Puntland," HSM Press Office said.

"The Mujahideen of Somalia now dominate the vast stretch of mountainous terrains of the North as well as the fertile plains of the South," HSM Press Office boasted, while ignoring the fact that Shabaab fighters abandoned the strategic western city of Baidoa to advancing Ethiopian and Somali troops just this week.

HSM Press Office's announcement was paired with a statement from a spokesman for Sheikh Mohammed Said Atom, who leads a large group of Islamist fighters in Puntland. Yasin Khalid Osman 'Yasin Kilwe,' who leads a group of fighters under Atom and serves as his spokesman, said the group "joined" with Shabaab and welcomed the merger with al Qaeda, according to Somalia Report. Osman's statement was broadcast on Al-Andalus, Shabaab's official radio station.

"I swear allegiance and adherence to the Amir of Harakat Shabab al Mujahidin Sheikh Muktar Abu Zubayr," said Osman, who described himself as the "Emir of the mujahidin in Golis mountains." Osman

"I want to praise God for the unity of our Shabaab brothers with al Qaeda fighters," Osman continued, according to Somalia Report. "This is a great victory for the all mujahideen in the world, marking the unity of Muslim jihadists in the world for the first time in recent years. I want to declare today that we are joined with our al Shabaab brothers who are devoted to the Jihad in Somalia. On behalf of the mujahideen fighters in Galgala mountains, I want to confirm to you that we shall obey the orders of the leader of the Shabaab mujahideen, Sheikh Muktar Abu Zubayr who will also be our leader."
Osman also said that for the northern Somali jihadists, "this is the first step toward the start of proper solidarity with all Muslim jihadists in the world."
Atom's pledge of fealty takes place just two weeks after Shabaab announced its official merger with a Qaeda. The two terror groups have been intricately linked for years, and the announcement of the merger was merely the formal acknowledgment of the ties between the two groups. Several days later, the Muslim Youth Center in Kenya announced its merger with Shabaab and al Qaeda East Africa.

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2012/02/somali_islamist_grou.php

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Shabaab formally joins al Qaeda

By Thomas Joscelyn & Bill Roggio - February 9, 2012

Shabaab and al Qaeda have announced their formal merger, according to a video disseminated online today and translated by the SITE Intelligence group. In the video, Mukhtar Abu al Zubayr (a.k.a. Ahmed Abdi Aw Mohamed or Godane), the emir and cofounder of Shabaab, pledges his organization's allegiance to al Qaeda, and Ayman al Zawahiri, the emir of al Qaeda, accepts.

"O our beloved Emir, on behalf of my brothers in al Shabaab al Mujahideen Movement, commanders and soldiers, I say: We give allegiance to you to follow the Book of Allah and the Sunnah [traditions] of His Messenger, to listen and obey in good and bad, to have altruism and not dispute with people in their fields except when we see clear unbelief that is proven in the revelation from Allah as much as we can," Zubayr says in his address to Zawahiri, according to SITE's translation.

"Lead us on the path of martyrdom and jihad, on the steps drawn by our martyred Imam Usama [bin Laden]," Zubayr adds.

In his portion of the video, Zawahiri claims that the "jihadi movement is growing...despite the fiercest Crusader campaign in history launched by the West against Muslims." Zawahiri continues:
"Today, I have pleasing glad tidings for the Muslim Ummah that will please the believers and disturb the disbelievers, which is the joining of the Shabaab al Mujahideen Movement in Somalia to Qaedat al Jihad, to support the jihadi unity against the Zio[nist]-Crusader campaign and their assistants amongst the treacherous agent rulers who let the invading Crusader forces enter their countries."
The announcement is hardly surprising. Al Qaeda and Shabaab have long been closely linked. And Shabaab's leaders have repeatedly proclaimed their allegiance to al Qaeda.

During an interview in December 2011, Zubayr highlighted the role al Qaeda has played in Somalia since the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu. In 2010, according to an account published by Reuters, Zubayr signed a statement saying that Shabaab had "agreed to join the international jihad of al Qaeda."

Al Qaeda has praised Shabaab and its predecessor, the Islamic Courts Union, for years prior to accepting Shabaab into the fold. And for years al Qaeda has helped produce propaganda for the Islamic Courts and Shabaab, and has addressed the group in its own propaganda tapes. Osama bin Laden endorsed the Islamic Courts during a speech back in 2006.

"We will continue, God willing, to fight you and your allies everywhere, in Iraq and Afghanistan and
in Somalia and Sudan until we waste all your money and kill your men and you will return to your country in defeat as we defeated you before in Somalia," bin Laden said. Al Qaeda leaders Ayman al Zawahiri and Abu Yahya al Libi have also directly addressed Shabaab and voiced their support for the terror group's activities.

During the summer of 2008, Shabaab sought to formally join al Qaeda. By the end of that year, al Qaeda had indicated that it had all but formally accepted Shabaab as its official affiliate in East Africa.

In September of 2008, Shabaab formally reached out to al Qaeda's senior leadership in an effort to better integrate with the network and its strategic nodes across Africa and the Middle East. The effort came in the form of a 24-minute video that featured Saleh ali Saleh Nabhan, a dual-hatted al Qaeda and Shabaab leader.

In the tape, Nabhan declared an oath of bayat (loyalty) on behalf of Shabaab to bin Laden and al Qaeda and encouraged fighters to train in Shabaab-run camps and participate in the fight against the transitional federal government, Ethiopian forces, and African Union peacekeepers. A public response to Shabaab's declaration came two months later, on Nov. 19, 2008, when al Qaeda operations chief Ayman al-Zawahiri acknowledged the group in a propaganda video by calling them "my brothers, the lions of Islam in Somalia."

"[R]ejoice in victory and conquest," Zawahiri said, in an official transcript acquired by The Long War Journal, "and hold tightly to the truth for which you have given your lives, and don't put down your weapons before the Mujahid state of Islam and Tawheed [oneness with god] has been set up in Somalia."
Despite the close ties between the two terror groups, al Qaeda's senior leadership "instructed Shabaab to maintain a low profile on al Qaeda links," a senior US intelligence official who closely follows al Qaeda and Shabaab in East Africa told The Long War Journal in August 2010. The official, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the subject, said the information was passed between the top leadership of both groups.
"Al Qaeda has accepted Shabaab into the fold, and any additional statements would only serve to draw international scrutiny," the intelligence official said.

the article countinues here, read more: 
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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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Shabaab names new leader of Kenyan branch

Shabaab, al Qaeda's affiliate in Somalia, has named a radical Kenyan preacher who has advocated jihad across the globe to lead to lead their branch in Kenya.
The Muslim Youth Center, a radical Islamist group in Kenya, said that Shabaab named Sheikh Ahmad Iman Ali its "Supreme Amiir", or leader, on Jan. 10. The Muslim Youth Center released a statement on their blog, which was obtained by the SITE Intelligence Group.

By Bill Roggio - January 13, 2012 - LWJ

Sheikh Ahmad Iman Ali, the leader of Shabaab's branch in Kenya, from a videotape released on Jan. 6. Image from the SITE Intelligence Group.

Shabaab, al Qaeda's affiliate in Somalia, has named a radical Kenyan preacher who has advocated jihad across the globe to lead to lead their branch in Kenya.

The Muslim Youth Center, a radical Islamist group in Kenya, said that Shabaab named Sheikh Ahmad Iman Ali its "Supreme Amiir", or leader, on Jan. 10. The Muslim Youth Center released a statement on their blog, which was obtained by the SITE Intelligence Group.

"Allah favours our beloved al Shabaab, and al Shabaab in return has placed the responsibility of waging jihad in Kenya in the capable Kenyan hands of our Amiir Sheikh Ahmad Iman Ali," the statement said.

According to the Muslim Youth Center, Ali has fought in Somali, where he led other Kenyans against Somali troops and African Union forces.

"Some years back our beloved brothers in al Shabaab called upon our Amir to take up his duty and help the mujahideen in Somalia," the statement said. "Without hesitation or excuses like many of the other Sheikhs in Kenya our Amiir left Majengo and MYC [Muslim Youth Center] to begin fighting in Allah cause. As a result, many of us in MYC and others in Kenya followed our dear Amiir to the land of Somalia."

The Muslim Youth Center said Kenya as "is legally a war zone" and Ali now "now leads us into jihad in Kenya without hesitation or fear."

"We will wage defensive jihad as we have been instructed to so without mercy for the sake of our precious religion," the statement continued.

The Muslim Youth Center also said that Ali is following in the footsteps of "brother Fazul," or Fazul Mohammed, the former leader of al Qaeda's operations in East Africa who also served as a senior leader in Shabaab. Fazul has been indicted along with Osama bin Laden, Ayman al Zawahiri, and other top al Qaeda leaders by the US government for his involvement in the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Fazul was killed by Somali troops at a checkpoint south of Mogadishu in June 2011.

"We in MYC have no doubt that our Amiir Sheikh Ahmad Iman Ali will continue the unfinished work of brother Fazul in Kenya and in the region of East Africa," the statement said.

Shabaab named Ali to lead their branch in Kenya just four days after the terror group released a 51-minute-long video by that featured him. In the video, he urged Muslims to travel to the global theaters of war, and if the could not make the journey, he urged them to wage jihad at home.

"[If] are unable to reach the land of jihad, the land of ribat, like the land of Somalia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Algeria, or Iraq, if you are unable to reach these lands which have established the banner of tawheed and the Shariah of Allah, then raise your sword against the enemy that is closest to you," he said according to the translation of the video by the SITE Intelligence Group.

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2012/01/shabaab_names_new_le.php#ixzz1jKsRk5MT

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American fighter pictured with Shabaab commander identified

A Shabaab fighter who has been seen in pictures with military commander Omar Hammami has been identified by The Long War Journal as an American who is wanted by the US government and who fled the country for Somalia in 2009.

By Bill Roggio - January 11, 2012 - LWJ

Left: Cabdulaahi Ahmed Faarax (Abdullah al Amriki), from the FBI's website. Right: Faarax [right] with Omar Hammami [left], from a posting at a jihadist website on Dec. 7, 2011. Image from the SITE Intelligence Group.

 
A Shabaab fighter who has been seen in pictures with military commander Omar Hammami has been identified by The Long War Journal as an American who is wanted by the US government and who fled the country for Somalia in 2009.
The Long War Journal has confirmed that the Shabaab fighter identified by the terror group as Abdullah al Amriki ("the American") is in fact Cabdulaahi Ahmed Faarax, an American who recruited for the terror group and left the US in October 2009 to wage jihad in Somalia.
Faarax has been seen in pictures with Hammami that were released on jihadist web forums twice since the beginning of December 2011; first on Dec. 7, and again on Jan. 7. Hammami, another American, is a Shabaab military commander and recruiter who eulogized Osama bin Laden after his death in May 2011. Hammami is on the US's list of specially designated global terrorists for his ties to al Qaeda.
Faarax was one of eight men from Minnesota who were charged by the Department of Justice with links to Shabaab and international terrorism in 2009. The Justice Dept. named all eight men in November 2009.
In October 2009, Farax and Abdiweli Yassin Isse, another Shabaab operative, were charged with "with conspiring to kill, kidnap, maim, or injure persons outside the United States."
"[I]n the fall of 2007, Faarax and others met at a Minneapolis mosque to telephone co-conspirators in Somalia to discuss the need for Minnesota-based co-conspirators to go to Somalia to fight the Ethiopians," the Justice Dept. press release from November 2009 stated.
At another meeting during the fall of 2007, Faarax told the potential recruits that he was wounded while previously waging jihad along the border with Kenya, where he "had experienced true brotherhood while fighting a 'jihad' in Somalia."
"Faarax also described his own fighting in Somalia in detail, explaining that he fought on the Somlia/Kenya border, described that he was wounded during the fighting, that one of his fellow fighters been killed, and described the fighting as 'guerrilla fighting,'" according to the affidavit that was filed by the FBI. "Faarax also told the co-conspirators that traveling to Somalia to fight jihad will be fun and not to be afraid. Faarax also explained to his co-conspirators that they would get to shoot guns in Somalia."
During several interviews with the FBI, Faarax lied about his activities in support of Shabaab, according to the indictment. The indictment also noted that Faraax went by a number of aliases, including: "Adaki," "Hayakallah," "Mardaki," and "Smiley."
Faarax "departed the state of Minnesota in a rental car, with a final destination of Somalia," on Oct. 5, 2009, just before he was formally charged with supporting Shabaab.
Faarax is one of an estimated 50 Somali-Americans who are thought to have been recruited in the US to train and fight with Shabaab, al Qaeda's affiliate in Somalia. At least two Americans have carried out suicide attacks in Somalia, and Shabaab claimed that two other Americans have carried out such attacks.
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.

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2012/01/american_fighter_pic.php#ixzz1jFJJxef4

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Suspected Al Shabaab Rebels Raid Kenya Police Post

GARISSA, Kenya (Reuters) - Suspected Somali al Shabaab rebel fighters raided a police post near Mandera in northern Kenya Saturday, seizing weapons and burning a mobile phone transmission mast, security officials said.

The group of fighters attacked Arabiya, a trading centre 60 kilometres from Mandera, and engaged police in a firefight before overpowering them and taking all the guns and bullets from the local police post.
"Arabiya was attacked. We believe it's al Shabaab. They destroyed, burnt a communication booster and took ammunition at the police post," North Eastern Provincial police commander Leo Nyongesa told Reuters by phone.
There were no injuries or deaths reported.
Kenya ordered its soldiers across the border in October to crush the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab who it said had attacked its security forces and tourists inside Kenya.
ARRESTS
The latest incident comes days after grenade attacks in the frontier town of Garissa killed six, and a roadside bomb killed a soldier in Mandera town.
Nyongesa said police had arrested five people suspected to be involved in the Garissa attack.
Although there appears to be little progress on the ground in Somalia as torrential rains bog down operations, more airstrikes have been launched on al Shabaab strongholds in recent days and there have been skirmishes and bomb attacks in northern Kenya.
"The week has been very intense with air operations that have been aimed at decimating and degrading al Shabaab capacity to be able to plan and launch operations in the country," Kenya Defence Force's Colonel Cyrus Oguna told a news conference in Nairobi.
During the operation, now in its sixth week, four soldiers have died in direct combat, in addition to five killed in a helicopter crash at the start of the incursion. One was missing at sea.
Oguna said nine people arrested Friday in separate incidents on Lamu island were suspected of being al Shabaab members.
Kenya is the latest foreign power to try to stabilise Somalia, which has been mired in violence for two decades since the overthrow of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 allowed first warlords, then Islamist militants, to step into a power vacuum.
Friday, officials from Ethiopia, whose soldiers have been in Somalia before, said the country will deploy troops to the anarchic Horn of Africa state for a "brief period" to help Somali and Kenyan forces battling al Shabaab.
In an emailed statement responding to Ethiopia's plan, al Shabaab said: "The people of Somalia shall never accept or live under the humiliation of occupation and the spirit of resistance shall not fade as long as a single invader remains alive on Somali soil."
(Additional reporting and writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Sophie Hares)

from NYTIMES

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Senior Shabaab leaders rumored killed in blast

by Bill Roggio @ longwarjournal

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Two of the top leaders in the al Qaeda-linked Shabaab are rumored to have been killed in a massive blast in a town near Mogadishu late last night. The origin of the blast is unknown, but it is thought to have been caused by a missiles fired by naval warships or unmanned US Predator drones.
Somali officials claimed that Ahmad Godane Abu Zubayr, Shabaab's spiritual leader, and Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, a top commander, were both killed in a massive blast in Afgoye, a town about 20 miles west of Mogadishu. The explosion took place at a "compound" known to be used by Shabaab, according to Sunatimes and Mareeg Online. Reuters claimed the blast took place at a "camp." Afgoye is under Shabaab control.
The rumor of the deaths of Abu Zubayr and Aweys has not been confirmed. Shabaab has not announced their deaths.
Local residents in Afgoye claimed that a high-level meeting of senior Shabaab commanders was taking place in the town.
"I am sure there was a meeting going on in the base near the orphanage. Armoured cars and expensive 4x4s were buzzing around," an Afgoye resident told Reuters.
At least two missiles are said to have detonated in Afgoye. The missiles are thought to have been launched by a warship off the coast of Somalia, or by unmanned US Predator or Reaper strike aircraft that are known to operate from bases in Ethiopia and Djibouti. US warships have launched cruise missile strikes against al Qaeda operatives in Somalia in the past.
Both Abu Zubayr and Aweys have been listed by the US as specially designated global terrorists for their links to al Qaeda. And both leaders have been previously targeted by US airstrikes. Abu Zubayr, who is also known as Ahmed Abdi Aw Mohamed, was rumored to have been wounded in a blast thought to have been caused by a US missile strike in Mogadishu in May 2009. The explosion killed 11 Shabaab fighters and three or four "foreign fighters."
Shabaab is currently fighting on two fronts against several African nations. Along with Somali troops, African Union forces made up of Ugandan and Burundian soldiers are battling Shabaab in the capital of Mogadishu, while the Kenyan military is moving forces toward the port city of Kismayo, Shabaab's de facto capital, and the town of Afmadow.
The Kenyan government invaded southern Somalia in mid-October and vowed to drive Shabaab from bases along the border. A Kenyan Army spokesman said that his country's forces would take control of Kismayo and would remain in the south until Shabaab was no longer a threat. The Kenyan advance in the south appears to have stalled, however. One month after the invasion, Kenyan troops have failed to take Afmadow, and have advanced only as far as Ras Kamboni on their way to Kismayo.

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2011/11/senior_shabaab_leade.php#ixzz1dlgqPuoI

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