An American warship rescued three Yemeni fishermen after pirates took their boats and threw them into the sea. Pirates hijacked the Panamanian cargo ship Red Sea Spirit. Planes flying at low level have been seen in the Shabaab-held port town of Kismayo.
A draft UN Security Council resolution calls for an arms embargo against Eritrea and travel bans and asset freezes for members of its government and military for aiding insurgents in Somalia. Somali pirates released a Panama-flagged ship that was seized earlier this month and alleged to be carrying a wide range of weapons. A blast […]
Four people were killed after Shabaab attacked government troops in Mogadishu. Shabaab stoned to death a woman in the Bakool region. The captain of a chemical tanker hijacked this week has died from gunshot wounds. Pirates attacked the US-flagged Maersk Alabama for the second time in seven months and were thwarted by private guards.
Pirates again attack US-flagged Maersk Alabama
Five civilians were killed after Shabaab attacked government troops in Mogadishu. The death toll of the battle between Shabaab and Hizbul Islam forces in Hagar reached 15. “Shabaab is our number one foe”, said Sheikh Abdi Nasser Serar, the foreign affairs chairman of Hizbul Islam. Pirates freed a Spanish ship after a $3.5 million ransom […]
Somali pirates free 36 hostages, claim $3M ransom
Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, Hizbul Islam’s top leader, reportedly submitted conditions for his defection to the Somali government to the president of Libya. At least six people were killed after the forces of Sheik Ahmed Modobe, a warlord affiliated with Hizbul Islam, attacked Shabaab in Hagar village in southern Somalia. Ethiopian troops left their main […]
Insurgents attacked an AMISOM base in South Mogadishu. Gunmen killed a former member of the Transitional government in Beledweyne. Somali troops are staging a large operation against insurgents in western Gedo region. The US AFRICOM has “no plans” to arm the unmanned planes that are carrying out reconnaissance flights off the coast of Somalia.
After two days of heavy fighting, the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) said they had captured seven Ethiopian towns along the border with Somalia. “A significant number of Ethiopian troops have been killed and their military hardware captured or destroyed”, the group said. An Iranian senior naval commander announced that the navy has decided to […]
Royal Navy witnessed pirate kidnapping of couple
More than 400 fighters from Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and Somalia are housed in the Abyan camp, one of several operating in the country with the knowledge of the government.
The French navy captured 12 suspected pirates off the coasts of Somalia. Rwandan police are holding four Somalis for illegally entering the country. One of those arrested was carrying a forged South African passport. Hizbul Islam appointed a new Islamic administration in the Hiran region.
Masked gunmen killed chief judge Sheikh Mohamed Abdi Aware, who recently sent four members of Shabaab to jail in Bosaso, and killed a lawmaker in Garowe in Puntland. Two boarding units from a Norwegian frigate came under fire from pirates while on an inspection mission close to the coast. EU foreign ministers will endorse a […]
Yesterday the Star Tribune (published in Minneapolis-St. Paul) reported on a seemingly significant arrest in the Netherlands related to the al Shabaab recruiting networks that have centered on the Twin Cities area. From the Star Tribune: A 43-year-old Somali man from Minneapolis was arrested this week in the Netherlands for allegedly financing the recruitment of […]
Fazul has replaced Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, who was killed during a US special operations raid in southern Somalia in mid-September. Shabaab’s leader praised the appointment.
The US Africa Command (AFRICOM) has deployed Reaper unmanned drones to scour the Indian Ocean off the coast of Somalia. Six security guards were injured after insurgents hurled hand grenades at the convoy of Somalia’s police chief as it passed south of Galkayo town.
China wants a lead role in fight against Somali pirates
Pirates seized a UAE-flagged ship loaded with weapons bound for Somalia in contravention of a UN arms embargo, and launched their longest range hijack attempt yet — opening fire on a giant oil tanker 1,000 nautical miles east of Mogadishu. In Mogadishu, Shabaab commander Sheik Mohamed Sheik Abdullahi, also known as “Pakistan,” defected to the […]
A police officer was killed in Puntland and two Kenyans were kidnapped in Mogadishu. Shabaab accused Kenyan lawmakers of backing the recruitment of youths to fight against insurgents in Somalia. Sheikh Ahmed Madobe, a Hizbul Islam warlord, and Barre Hirale, a Shabaab ally in Kismayo, signed a secret agreement to help the government mount an […]
Mohammed Gafaje, commander of the pirates holding a Spanish crew hostage, called for the extradition of two Somali pirates held in Spain and issued an ultimatum to the Spanish government. At least five civilians were killed after Shabaab attacked two bases in Mogadishu. An explosion targeted the Ministry of Finance in Galkayo, in central Somalia.
Shabaab members stoned a man to death for adultery in Merka but spared his pregnant girlfriend until she gives birth. A prominent Somali businessman was killed in Bosaso. Masked gunmen tried to kill Abdullahi Hilowle, one of the commanders of Hizbul Islam in lower Shabelle region. Hizbul Islam leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys held talks […]
Two explosions targeted two police stations in Bosaso, in the autonomous northern region of Puntland. Hizbul Islam insurgents have imposed a curfew on Beledweyne. Somali pirates seized a Greek-owned vessel and threatened to hand three Spanish captives to the families of two pirates being held in Spain.
At least seven people have been killed in fighting between Somali government forces and Hizbul Islam rebel fighters in Beledweyne, north of Mogadishu. Mohammed Osman Arus, a spokesman for Hizbul Islam, said his group has recaptured the town. Residents of the central village of Bahdo clashed with pirates holding a UK couple, and killed two […]
Somali rebels ban musical ringtones on cellphones
Two Shabaab members tried to hijack a plane flying to Djibouti from Bosaso airport. Shabaab has banned the UN World Food Program from distributing humanitarian foodstuffs bearing the US flag in southern Somalia. At least six people were killed by an explosion in front of Hizbul Islam’s regional headquarters in Beledweyne.
Somali Pirates Move Couple Onto Land
Two IEDs killed five military officers in the autonomous northern region of Somaliland, including an infantry division commander. Shabaab has for the first time threatened to attack Israel during a public rally in Mogadishu (video). Government is massing troops to retake the city of Beledweyne. A fishing vessel with 23 Russians on board was captured […]
Three government soldiers were killed in an IED attack on their convoy in Mogadishu. Tensions between Shabaab and Hizbul Islam have flared in the Tiyeglow district in Bakol. Somali pirates hijacked a Yemeni fishing vessel; one pirate was killed during the hijacking.
Six Somalis were killed and 15 more were wounded in fighting in Galkao. Yemeni security forces arrested five Somalis thought to be al Qaeda operatives. Pirates hijacked a Thai fishing boat.
Five Somalis were killed during shelling in Mogadishu. The attacks appear to have targeted President Sharif as he returned from Yemen. Islamists detained 80 people in Luq for violating sharia law. Shabaab shut down an aid agency for “spying.”