Sheikh Hassan Turki flaunts the involvement of “foreign fighters” in Somalia as Shariah law is enforced in Kismayo Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and Sheik Yusuf Indohaadde during a news briefing, Saturday, June 17, 2006. AP photograph, click to view. Al-Qaeda’s involvement in the rise of the Islamic Courts has been a well know fact for […]
Ethiopia claims it has not deployed troops inside Somalia. Residents of Kismayo continue to riot despite a curfew, as the ICU bans khat in the city. Cinemas and sporting events have also been shut down in the city.
About 300 to 400 Ethiopian troops moved into Baidoa after the Islamic Courts seized Kismayo. Defense minister Bare Hirale is said to be awaiting reinforcements from Ethiopia to counterstrike at Kismayo. The transitional government pleads for the arms embargo to be lifted. Twenty women were arrested by the ICU for protesting in Kismayo, while Hassan […]
The strategic southern port city of Kismayo is taken by the Islamic Courts, Baidoa is now in the crosshairs Somalia. Cities in red indicate ICU controlled territory. Click map to view. The Islamic Courts have further consolidated their grip on power in souther Somalia. Just one day after Barre Adan Shire, (or Bare Hirale) the […]
The Islamic Courts has taken the strategic port city of Kismayo. UN relief agencies have fled the Wajid district in the southern Bakol region, fearing fighting. Thirty inmates escaped from a jail run by the Islamic Courts.
The Islamic Courts will open a ‘jihad office’ in Mogadishu. The ICU is advancing towards the strategic port city of Kismayo. The U.S. has negotiated with ‘moderate’ Sheikh Sharif Ahmed.
Jihad registration office to open in Mogadishu
Somali Islamist movement tightens Sharia law
The African Taliban. The Islamic Courts bans khat and cigarettes during Ramadan. Islam is now the official religion and conversion is banned. A karate instructor and six students are arrested for being ‘involved in something against the Islamic ideology.’ The ICU conducted its first public execution.
Security has been tightened in Baidoa after the suicide attacks against President Ahmed. The CIA (more likely the FBI) is sending a team to investigate the suicide attack. The Jamestown Foundation believes Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed is a ‘moderate.’
Somalia Drifts Toward Fragmentation as Regional Powers Polarize
Praise for troops who faced fury of the Taliban and triumphed
Somali government seeks help after bombing
The Islamic Courts will provide “military training needed to wage jihad” to students from 8th grade and up. Hassan Turki, wanted by the U.S. government, is openly operating in Somalia. The Somali interim government killed 6 and captured 2 suspects in the presidential bombing attack.
Mogadishu’s cleric rulers slowly reveal their agenda
Somalia: Aweys criticizes clan-based Islamic Courts
The first suicide bomber in Somalia targets transitional president and parliament as Somalia slides further into the hands of the al Qaeda backed Islamic Courts Map of Somalia, recent gains by the Islamic Courts marked in red. Click map to view. The Islamic Courts makes the first overt move against the weak transitional government of […]
The ICU targets interim president Abdullahi Yusuf with two bombs in Baidoa. The Islamic Courts killed a 13 year old boy and wounded three others while breaking up a group watching a soccer on television. The ICU also murdered a 70 year old Italian nun hours after the Pope spoke on Islam. An ICU linked […]
Somali scholar cleric calls on rally against Pope Benedict XVI
Italian nun murdered in Somalia
Baidoa police use gunfire to disperse an Islamist demonstration in the city. The flow of Somalis fleeing the ICU advance on the southern port city of Kisaymo triples. The African Union is waiting for funding before deploying its 8,000 man peacekeeping force.
Somali police use arms to disperse Islamist protest
Talibizing Somalia
Border tension between Somaliland, Puntland
US counterterrorism work stumbles in Somalia
An EU official reports the army of the Islamic Courts is marching on the southern port city of Kismayo. The head of the Juba Valley Coalition denies the ICU is marching on the city. The African Union “will endorse an ambitious peacekeeping force for Somalia.”
The Islamic Courts are training recruits in the in Middle Jubba region, about 500km south of Mogadishu. An email chain in private security contractor circles indicates the U.S. is conducting black operations inside Somalia. IGAD continues to plan to deploy a Somali peacekeeping force.
US accused of covert operations in Somalia
The Islamic Courts closed a radio station in Jawhar and banned music. Hundreds protest the murder of an unarmed man said to have been killed by an ICU member. The UN has arrived in Mogadishu to negotiate the resumption of aidprograms.
Somalia: Islamists accused of killing local man