The interior minister was injured in an IED attack in Mogadishu; his secretary was killed. Baidoa residents are protesting Shabaab’s decree banning khat. Hizbul Islam has begun to fracture due to disagreements within the group. Islamist leader Sheik Yusuf Inda™adde said Hizbul Islam leaders are making the mujahedeen fight for the leader’s personal gain.
Two Somalis were killed during rioting that broke out in Bossaso after a cleric named Sheikh Osman was detained by security forces. Uganda has deployed an additional 300 troops to Somalia. An Islamist leader claimed this deployment and others totaling up to 1,820 new soldiers were made “secretly.”
Sheikh Omar Iman Abu Bakar was ousted as the leader of Hizbul Islam for breaking the rules of the party; Sheikh Mohamed Hassan Amey is the group’s new leader. Fighters from Hizbul Islam destroyed graves of Sufi Muslims in Bakol as the graves are “un-Islamic.” Somalia™s prime minister regretted the information minister’s call for more […]
Somalia: Al-Qaeda’s next battleground
Shabaab’s information minister in Kismayo welcomed Osama bin Laden’s call to overthrow the new government and said Shabaab will maintain links with al Qaeda. Hawiye clan leaders, prominent clerics, and the government’s information minister rejected the call for more foreign troops to be deployed in Somalia. The government denied reports that soldiers surrendered to Shabaab.
The information minister for Shabaab in the southern Somali city of Kismayo welcomed Osama bin Laden’s call to remove Somalia’s new president and said the group would continue its links to al Qaeda.
Hassan Dahir Aweys reportedly said al Qaeda does not have a role in Somalia’s future. Government officials said the military will begin operations to eject Shabaab from the Bay and Bakol regions.
Somali clerics reject Bin Laden call
Al Qaeda’s leader praised Shabaab and called for the downfall of the government led by former Islamic Courts leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed. This is the third tape on Somalia released by senior al Qaeda leaders since Feb. 13.
Shabaab claimed victory over the Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca in central Somalia after two days of fighting that claimed 25 lives. Shabaab ordered the assassination of members of parliament for “aiding the enemy.” Gunmen freed four UN aid workers after kidnapping them in southwestern Somalia.
Yasin Ali, a leader in Hizbul Islam, and two other Swedish citizens were arrested for funneling money to Shabaab but were freed after prosecutors had insufficient evidence to convict.
Fifteen Somalis, including three civilians, were killed during fighting between Shabaab and Ahlu Sunna Waljama™a in the town of Wabho in central Somalia. The police have banned weapons in Mogadishu. Shabaab has reopened Hawalas in Kismayo.
Rival Islamist groups clash in Somalia, 11 killed
At least two security guards of the Wadjir District commissioner have been killed, and seven other people, including the district commissioner, have been injured, by a roadside bomb that targeted his car. Sheik Mohamed Muhumad Isma™il stated an order to the people of Barre to legalize their guns.
ICU calls for Somali government to implement Sharia law
Report: Ayman Al-Zawahiri Seen In Somalia
Four high-level US officials discussed the terrorist threat emanating from Somalia, as well as the Somali terrorist recruiting network on American soil, this week. The officials confirmed that al Qaeda and its allies are growing stronger by the day in East Africa.
Somali extremists said recruiting in US
Somalia’s council of ministers on Tuesday endorsed a plan to introduce sharia, or Islamic law, in the country, a key demand by Islamists who are opposed to the government. Germany’s navy handed over nine suspected Somali pirates to Kenyan authorities.
Fighting between Shabaab and Ahlu Suna Waljama has broken out in Bardhere. Islamic Courts fighters detained five Somalis in Beledweyne. Hizbul Islam vowed to attack African Union peacekeepers. Shabaab publicly flogged four boys accused of rape in Mogadishu. The Elman Human Rights groups said that 7,574 people were killed in Somalia during 2008.
Sheik Omar Iman Abu Bakar, the leader of Hizbul Islam, said the new government is powerless just as the old government was. Islamist leader Sheik Yusuf Inda™adde said he would join the government if it implements full sharia. Shabaab has dispatched hundreds of troops to retake the central towns of Guriel and Dhusamareb. A bombing […]
Somalia: Islamist leader says he will join government if it implements Sharia law
Shabaab admitted having foreign members and links to al Qaeda, but said it is not part of the global terror group. Shabaab fighters detained more than 70 people during operations in Bardhere. Three civilians were killed in fighting between Burundian troops and Islamist fighters.
Sheik Abduqadir Ali Omar, the former leader of the Islamic Courts Union, has been appointed Minister of the Interior. The minister of fisheries and marine resources, who was a senior official of the Islamic Courts, has declared ‘war’ on the Somali media. Five hundred Burundian peacekeepers have arrived in Mogadishu.
Hizbul Islam, a coalition of Islamists groups fighting the Somali government forces and African Union peacekeepers, has rejected a ceasefire offer from President Ahmed. “We will attack the enemy and their stooges anytime we want,” the spokesman for Hizbul Islam said.
Somali ministers under the former Transitional Federal Government (TFG) handed over official documents to the new ministers of the unity government Monday at a ceremony in the capital, Mogadishu.
President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed said he would give in to Somali clerics’ demands to impose sharia, or Islamic law, throughout the country. The move is designed to placate the Islamist terror groups. The deputy speaker of parliament also welcomed the calls for sharia.
Somali president bends to rebel demand for sharia law
President Ahmed has opened negotiations with armed insurgent groups; it is unclear if Shabaab is one of the groups. Shabaab imposed a curfew in Bardhere. The UN is considering a peacekeeping operation in Somalia.
More than 35 Somalis were killed and 130 were wounded during two days of fighting between Shabaab and government and African Union forces in Mogadishu. Shabaab fighters took control of Hudur, the capital of Bakool province.