Business leaders in the Somali capital’s main Bakara market held a closed-door meeting Saturday where a proposal to establish a private army was discussed. An officer with the Puntland Intelligence Service (PIS) was shot and killed Thursday night in the region’s port city of Bossaso.
A roadside bomb targeting a military convoy killed a pregnant woman and wounded four others in Mogadishu. The security minister in Somalia’s semiautonomous State of Puntland has handed in his official resignation papers.
Shabaab claimed credit for a series of bombings in Puntland that killed 20 and wounded more than 70 Somalis. “This location [in Bossaso] was a place where Ethiopian and Puntland soldiers go for entertainment, with sinful acts and harmful culture,” according to a Shabaab statement published on the Internet. Shabaab fighters overran a police station […]
Fighting between government forces and Shabaab fighters south of Mogadishu claimed 15 lives; another five were killed inside the capital. Local officilas are fleeing a town near Baidoa due to Shabaab fighters making a push in the region. Security forces have arrested three journalists in Somalia and Puntland.
Somali troops are conducting operations in the central region of Hiran to prevent Shabaab from regrouping in the mountains surrounding Beledweyn. Ethiopian troops have occupied the residence of a former warlord. The Hawiye clan spokesman has been handed over to the Ethiopian military. Troops from Somaliland are said to be moving towards the capital of […]
Al Qaeda operative and Shabaab leader Aden Hashi Ayro “called for attacks on African Union troops and expressed his wishes of someday beheading women and children in Addis Ababa” in a recording on the internet. Fighting between Shabaab and Ugandan forces took place in northern Mogadishu. A Somaliland colonel and his unit defected to neighboring […]
Four explosions ripped through Mogadishu on Thursday night. Six were killed in fighting between Somali troops and Shabaab Islamist fighters. Eight were wounded in fighting between Puntland forces and local militias in Bossaso.
Over 20 people were killed as forces from the state of Somaliland invaded Puntland. Provincial administrations battled in the southern coastal town of Marka. A curfew has been imposed on the western town of Baidoa.
A suicide car bomber attacked the Somali Prime Minister’s home; seven were killed. Another suicide car bomb was detonated near an Ethiopian Army base. “Unknown gunmen” killed 2 police and 5 civilians in the Bakara bazaar in Mogadishu. Puntland said the Islamists have been defeated.
The Puntland regional government said 12 Islamists, including 6 “British nationals, Americans, Swedish, Pakistanis and Yemenis” were killed in fighting over the past few days. The Islamic Courts killed the Somali intelligence chief in Kismayo. An Ethiopian patrol was hit in an IED attack in Mogadishu.
Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, the intelligence chief for the Islamic Courts and other unnamed high value targets attacked in Puntland, Somalia Fazul Abdullah Mohammed. Click to view. Six months after Ethiopia’s invasion of southern Somalia to oust the al Qaeda backed Islamic Courts, the Transitional Federal Government, backed by Ethiopian armed forces and a small contingent […]
The U.S. Navy struck at an as yet unidentified target from off the coast of Somalia. Puntland forces clashed with Islamists off the Bargale coast after receiving a tip that about 35 “‘Islamist remnants™ including foreign al Qaeda linked operatives” were in the area. An Islamist boat was captured. “The foreign fighters include Yemenis, Afghans, […]
Somali police have set up a station near the Bakara market in Mogadishu, where several IED attacks have taken place. African Union troops have begun to de-mine the capital. Unidentified ‘gunmen’ have issued demands for 2 foreign CARE workers kidnapped in Puntland.
Seven were wounded in Islamist mortar attacks in Mogadishu. Heavily armed troops from Puntland are deploying to Baidoa. The UN humanitarian coordinator for Somalia is hopeful about the prospect for peace .
Six were wounded, including 5 police, after a grenade attack in Mogadishu. Ugandan troops have been cleared to deploy to Mogadishu. A US warship is moving to intercept a UN WFP vessel hijacked off the coast of Puntland.
The Somalia Battlefield December 25, 2006 to January 3, 2007. Light blue – Ethiopian & TFG advances. Green – ICU territory. Orange – recent clashes. Click image to view. Heavy casualties reported after days of fighting on the Kenyan border Just one day after a Somali military commander proclaimed military operations were over and Ras […]
Zawahiri, Islamist Courts lay the groundwork for the insurgency While the Islamic Courts repeatedly denied any connection to al Qaeda, the evidence to the contrary is overwhelming. Hassan Dahir Aweys, the ‘spiritual leader’ (and in fact the operational leader) of the Islamic Courts is wanted by the U.S. government for his connections with al Qaeda. […]
The Somalia Battlefield December 25, 2006 to January 3, 2007. Light blue – Ethiopian & TFG advances. Green – ICU territory. Orange – recent clashes. Click image to view. Click the map for an animated view of the TFG and Ethiopian operations against the Islamic Courts from December 25 to January 3 The Islamic Courts […]
A look at the state of the major theaters, and some under the radar, in the Long War Pro-Taliban fighters in Waziristan. The year of 2006 has seen some interesting developments in the fight against al Qaeda and its allies across the globe. While the war against al Qaeda is largely seen as a fight […]
The Somalia Battlefield on 12/29/2006. Light blue – Ethiopian & TFG advances. Green – ICU territory. Orange – recent clashes. Click image to view. Islamic Courts massing in Kismayo; ICU fighters to be pardoned; Ethiopians indicated they will stay The Ethiopian and Transitional Federal Government occupation of Mogadishu has begun. Shabelle notes that “over thousand […]
The Somalia Battlefield on 12/28/2006. Light blue – Ethiopian & TFG advances. Green – ICU territory. Orange – recent clashes. Click image to view. ICU leaders flee to unknown location; Ethiopian and TFG troops enter the capital After less than two weeks of fighting against Ethiopian and Somali government forces, the al Qaeda backed Islamic […]
The Somalia Battlefield on 12/25/2006. Light blue – Ethiopian & TFG advances. Green – ICU territory. Orange – recent clashes. Click image to view. The Islamic Courts has lost strategic territory as the Ethiopian Army and Transitional Federal Government marches towards Mogadishu After one full week of fighting between the al Qaeda backed Islamic Courts […]
Islamic Courts controlled cities and towns marked in red. Click map to view. The ICU attacks in Puntland and claims to have advanced to 7 miles from Baidoa, the Ethiopians strike in Beletweyn The Battle for town Baidoa, the seat of government of the beleaguered Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, and greater Somalia has entered […]
The final showdown is taking place in Somalia between the Islamic Courts Union, backed by al Qaeda, and the Transitional Federal Government, backed by Ethiopia Islamic Courts controlled cities and towns marked in red. Click map to view. For months, the al Qaeda backed Islamic Courts Union has been preparing the battlefield for the final […]
Somalia: Islamists suffered heavy casualties, says Puntland president
The chairman of the ICU and the TFG parliament speaker met in Yemen. A Puntland Islamic Courts is urging Somalis to fight the Ethiopians. A bomb was detonated behind a Mogadishu hotel owned by a “leading Islamic Courts ally and financer,” and may have targeted an ICU official.
Islamic Courts attack a checkpoint outside Baidoa; al-Fajr releases “Apostate Hell in Somalia,” praise Osama bin Laden Aftermath of November 30 suicide attack in Baidoa. Click image to view. BAGHDAD, IRAQ: Last Thursday, the Islamic Courts conducted its second suicide bombing attack against the Transitional Federal Government. Nine were killed after a car suicide bomb […]
The Islamic Courts will invite “foreign fighters” if the UN arms embargo is lifted (note: al Qaeda is already there.) The Ethiopians and the ICU exchanged mortar fire in Puntland. Ethiopian forces have moved south towards Galkayo. A raido reporter was held for three days by the ICU and beaten.
Kenya denies the presence of Ethiopian and U.S. troops at the Somali border. Puntland arrested a shiekh who called for jihad. The ICU closed cinemas and then imposed a curfew in Bulo Burde, and will seize weapons from Mogadishu businessmen.
The Ethiopian government “is making the necessary preparations for war,” said Prime Minister Meles. TFG President Yusuf is heading to Puntland. A local militia in the town of Abudwaq near the Ethiopian border has retaken a police station form the ICU.