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Shabaab claims pro-government militias surrender in central Somalia
This comes just days after Shabaab recaptured towns in the same region after Ethiopian troops withdrew.
This comes just days after Shabaab recaptured towns in the same region after Ethiopian troops withdrew.
Shabaab claims to have captured two towns in central Somalia after Ethiopian troops reportedly withdrew from their nearby bases.
The Islamic State’s Amaq News Agency has claimed responsibility for the stabbings in St. Cloud, Minnesota yesterday. Amaq’s claim is similar to the statements issued after a series of attacks in Europe and the US.
Abdulqadr Mumin, the leader of the small cadre of Islamic State fighters in the East African nation, defected from Shabaab late last year. He is said to kidnap and indoctrinate young Somali boys to bolster his ranks.
The al Qaeda branch highlights one method of governance in the southern Somali region of Middle Jubba.
The attack on the Criminal Investigation Department in Mogadishu is the second complex suicide assault by al Qaeda branch in East Africa in the past week.
Shabaab says that the former MP was one of the drivers in yesterday’s double suicide car bombing near an African Union base.
The jihadist group has again reportedly recaptured the strategic port city of Marka. However, African Union forces have denied that they have withdrawn from the city.
ODNI released some information on counterterrorism raids as part of an effort to provide more transparency on these operations. US intelligence claims that between 2,372 to 2,581 combatants and between 64 to 116 civilians were killed in 473 strikes in areas outside of Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria since President Obama took office.
Al Qaeda’s official branch in East Africa continues to demonstrate that it can penetrate high security areas of Mogadishu. Two members of parliament were among 13 people killed in the latest attack on a hotel in the capital.
The US military announced that it targeted Abdullahi Haji Da’ud, a top military commander and planner for Shabaab, al Qaeda’s official branch in East Africa, in an airstrike late last month. It is unclear if he is dead or alive.
The Islamic State promoted a training camp and announced its first attack in Somalia. Islamic State followers have been ruthlessly pursued by Shabaab, al Qaeda’s official branch in East Africa, as they attempt to gain traction in the country.
Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook confirmed today that the US targeted Abu Firas al Suri, a veteran al Qaeda leader, in an airstrike in Syria. Within hours of the bombing yesterday, jihadists on social media claimed that Abu Firas had perished. Separately, Cook confirmed that Hassan Ali Dhoore, a dual hatted al Qaeda and Shabaab leader, was killed in an airstrike in Somalia on Mar. 31.
The US military has not confirmed the death of Hassan Ali Dhoore, a dual hatted al Qaeda and Shabaab leader who served in the Amniyat, a key security and intelligence organization within Shabaab.
Shabaab continues its gains in southern Somalia despite large-scale presence of African Union troops.
The involvement of US special operations forces in the Awdigle raid and the heavy resistance put up by Shabaab indicates that the objective was to capture a high value target.
More than 150 Shabaab fighters are said to have been killed in a strike on a Shabaab camp north of the capital of Mogadishu.
The suicide assault was likely executed by the Abu Musab al Zarqawi Martyrdom Battalion. Shabaab routinely targets hotels in the Somali capital.
Shabaab’s leader in Kenya warns jihadists will turn the country’s flag red with “the blood that we will spill in Kenya.”
Shabaab, al Qaeda’s official branch in East Africa, has issued a statement claiming responsibility for a failed airliner bombing on Feb. 2. The group portrays the bombing as part of its ongoing war with “Western and apostate intelligence” services, but doesn’t explain how its adversaries in the CIA and other spy agencies were specifically targeted.
Over the past two weeks, African Union forces withdrew from the southern Somali towns of Marka, El Ade, and Badhadhe. Al Qaeda’s branch in Somalia quickly reoccupied the towns.
The video, which was focused on the legality of providing protection and killing the non-believers, features two undated ambushes on Kenyan security forces. Additionally, the video also calls for attacks on Israelis.
The jihadist group has long targeted hotels in Mogadishu, as they are popular with governmental and African Union officials and foreigners.
Despite contradictory claims made by Kenya, the photo report appears to confirm a large number of Kenyan troops were killed in the attack.
Despite being pushed out of several of its urban and rural strongholds, the Al Qaeda branch continues to prove its potency in the capture of the African Union base.
A US military spokesman touted the strikes that killed the three Islamic State leaders as “an example of how we’re able to decimate networks.”
The State Department has designated Emrah Erdogan as a terrorist, describing him as a member of both al Qaeda and Shabaab, al Qaeda’s official branch in East Africa.
An American who fought for Shabaab in Somalia has reportedly surrendered to African Union forces. He turned himself in after swearing allegiance to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, the head of the Islamic State. Shabaab’s leaders, who remain loyal to al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri, have been purging defectors.
The two leaders were identified as Abdirahman Sandhere from Shabaab, al Qaeda official branch in Somalia, and Wissam Najm Abd Zayd al Zubaydi, from the Islamic State’s province in Libya.
Shabaab, al Qaeda’s official branch in Somalia and East Africa, continues to be a capable insurgent and terrorist group in the region.