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Africa Horn

Kenyan Shabaab Leader Flees After Fallout

2017-11-24

[RadioShabelle] A Kenyan who rose through al-Shabaab ... an Islamic infestation centering on Somalia... ranks to become the poster boy for the terrorist organization is on the run after falling out with other commanders who want him executed. Ahmed Iman alias Kimanthi, who appeared in numerous al-Shabaab propaganda videos taunting Kenyan troops fighting in Somalia, the group’s stronghold, is now seeking to surrender to Kenyan forces and get amnesty, the Nation has learnt. Until the row, he was close to the current al-Shabaab supremo Ahmed Diriye and Mahad Karate, also known as Abdirahim Mohammed Warsame, who commanded Shabaab’s Amniyat, its intelligence wing, when button men stormed Garissa University College and killed 147 students in April 2015. In the video clips, which are unavailable after they were pulled down by YouTube, Iman says the killings were carried out to avenge the killing of radical Moslem holy mans. In those videos, he named the holy mans as Aboud Rogo, Samir Khan and Sheikh Abubakar Shariff alias Makaburi. International security sources operating in Somalia told the Nation that Iman has been the head of a group of imported muscle who together with him, are now on the run from the main group loyal to Diriye and Karate. A number of Kenyans and other foreigners who joined al-Shabaab snuffies in Somalia have since been captured and executed. On November 6, a 25-year-old Kenyan from Garissa was among four people who were publicly executed by the snuffies in Somalia. Omar Adar Omar was killed by firing squad on accusations of spying for the Africa Union Mission in Somalia, which comprises the Kenya Defence Forces. The fall-out is further complicated after the emergence of a faction that has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... in Syria, while Diriye’s group maintains its formal partnership with al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. The Nation has further learnt that Iman, in a bid to escape from Somalia, has evaded several dragnets to capture him. Al-Shabaab is well known for executing bully boyz within its own ranks whenever there is a fallout. The latest developments are a repeat of what happened to Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, who was killed in a set up laid by Godane Ahmed Abdi Godane alias Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr, who was Diriye’s predecessor. Godane was later killed in a joint operation by US and KDF in Somalia. Besides assuming the role of commander of imported muscle in Somalia, Iman also has a great influence in Jaish Ayman, another al-Shabaab faction operating in Boni Forest which spreads across the Kenya-Somalia border in Lamu County. Furthermore, Iman is also said to be getting foreign funding directly, further angering indigenous Somali commanders, the sources also said. A 2016 security report published by the Nation, revealed that Iman and accomplices in Nairobi collected millions of shillings every year by renting shops and kiosks in Umoja and Majengo, and the money is smuggled to Somalia to fund terrorism activities. In one al-Shabaab propaganda video, he was seen clad in KDF uniform, holding a walkie-talkie and an M-16 rifle, which he claimed was one of the arms looted from El-Adde Forward Operating Base, which was overran by the snuffies in January 2016. Besides Kenya, whose soldiers are operating in southern Somalia, al-Shabaab is also being fought by the US and other countries in Amisom, including Æthiopia, Uganda, Burundi and Djibouti.

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Africa Horn

Ruritanian Air Force Strikes Again in Hiiraan Region

2015-11-30

An official says unidentified military jets bombed Al shabaab bases in the Somali region of Hiiraan on Sunday, the latest in series of aerial bombardment against the Al Qaeda-linked militants. Confirming the incident, Col Mohamed Omar Aden who is a senior Somali army commander in the region said the jets hit Yasooman, Ceeldheer and Ceel lahelay villages, which are all under Al shabaab control. No casualties reported in the multiple airstrikes against Al shabaab strongholds in Hiiraan region. African Union troops in the region did not comment on the air attacks. Ruritania U.S. has in the past carried out several airstrikes targeted senior Al shabaab leaders, including Sheikh Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr who was killed in drone attack near Barawe town in September 1, 2014.

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Africa Horn

US Drone Attack On Al Shabaab Senior Leaders

2014-09-03

[IsraelTimes] US military forces attacked the Islamic krazed killer al-Shabaab ... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord... network in an operation in Somalia on Monday, the Pentagon said, in a strike a Somali official said targeted the group's runaway leader. Pentagon front man Rear Adm. John Kirby said the US was assessing the results and would provide more information when appropriate. No further details were available. A senior Somali intelligence official said a US drone targeted al-Shabaab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane as he left a meeting of the group's top leaders. Godane, also known as Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr, is the group's spiritual leader under whose direction the Somali turbans forged an alliance with al-Qaeda. The Somali official, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... since he was not authorized to speak to the media, said intelligence indicated Godane "might have been killed along with other Death Eaters." The official said the attack took place in a forest near Sablale district, 105 miles (170 kilometers) south of Mogadishu, where al-Shabaab trains its fighters. The governor of Somalia's Lower Shabelle region, Abdiqadir Mohammed Nor, told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named that as government and African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... forces were heading to a town in Sablale district, they heard what sounded like an "earthquake" as drones struck al-Shabaab bases. "There was an Arclight airstrike near Sablale. We saw something," Nor said. The US has carried out several Arclight airstrikes in Somalia recent years. A US missile strike in January killed a high-ranking intelligence officer for al-Shabaab, and last October a vehicle carrying senior members of the group was hit in a US strike that killed al-Shabaab's top explosives expert. The latest US action comes after Somalia's government forces regained control of a high-security prison in the capital that was attacked on Sunday by seven heavily armed suspected Islamic turbans who attempted to free other holy warriors held there. The Pentagon statement did not indicate whether the U.S. action was related to the prison attack. Somali officials said all the seven attackers, three government soldiers and two non-combatants were killed. Mogadishu's Godka Jilacow prison is an interrogation center for Somalia's intelligence agency, and many suspected turbans are believed to be held in underground cells there. Al-Shabaab grabbed credit for the attack that shattered a period of calm in Mogadishu after two decades of chaotic violence. The attack started when a suicide boom-mobileer detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at the gate of the prison, followed by gunnies who fought their way into the prison. It was al-Shabaab gunnies who attacked the upscale Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, with guns and grenades last September, killing at least 67 people. Al-Shabaab had threatened retaliation against Kenya for sending troops into Somalia against the krazed killers. Godane said the attack was carried out in retaliation for the West's support for Kenya's Somalia intervention and the "interest of their oil companies." Al-Shabaab is now mostly active in Somalia's rural regions, after being ousted from the capital by African Union forces in 2011. But the group is still able to launch lethal attacks -- often involving turbans on suicide missions -- within Mogadishu, the seat of government. Somali military officials last week launched a military operation to oust al-Shabaab from its last remaining bases in the southern parts of Somalia. However, by candlelight every wench is handsome... on Saturday the town of Bulomarer, which is about 110 kilometers (70 miles) south of Mogadishu, was seized from turbans after hours of fighting.

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Africa Horn

Are these the faces behind city mall attack?

2013-09-30

[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Ahmed Abdi Godane, alias, Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr Al-Shabaab founder and overall commander. A leaked National Security Intelligence (NIS) report says that early this year Godane held meetings in Somalia to come up with strategies on how to execute attacks in Kenya. The FBI has put a $7 million bounty on him. Godane, who was born in northern Somalia, now known as Somaliland, has been leading al-Shabaab since 2008. He studied accounting in Pakistan and while there he occasionally travelled to Afghanistan where he came into contact with al-Qaeda, led by the late Osama bin Laden. When he returned home he founded the northern wing of Somalia's al-Ittihad al-Islami (Islamic Union), which was established by Somali Mujahiddins returning from Afghanistan. He was to later start recruiting and indoctrinating the militia who were later to start attacks against Western interests in Somalia, including kidnapping and killing of Western nationals. Godane was to later join the Council of Islamic Courts before teaming up with Aden Hashi Farah to form al-Shabaab when they split from CIC. ********** Sheikh Mukhtar Robow alias Abu Mansur Al-Shabaab deputy leader A leaked NIS report says Muktar Sheikh Robow and Dahir Aweys arrived in Hela Marer area, Gedo region, from Ufuro area in the Bay region, Somalia, on March 22. They held a meeting with 50 other leaders where they discussed the mode of training for their operatives as well as plan on how to carry out attacks on vital installations in Mandera, Wajir, Garissa, Mombasa and Nairobi. The FBI has put a $5 million bounty on Robow. Robow, the deputy leader of al-Shabaab, is also a former spokesman for the group. He was one of the founders of the terror group. He is from Baidoa in the Bay region of Somalia, where his Rahanweyn clan holds overwhelming influence. Robow established the first militant Islamist training camp in Somalia, al-Hudda, in Huddur in 1996. He reportedly left Somalia in 2000 to train with the Taliban in Afghanistan. He returned to Somalia after the Taliban fell from power. In 2003, he helped create al-Shabaab from the remnants of al Ittihad al Islami. *********** Sheikh Ahmed Iman Ali According to a leaked National Security Intelligence report, Iman -- who was appointed by Al-Shabaab as its de facto leader of Kenyan fighters in Somalia -- was among the masterminds of the Westgate attack. "Al-Shabaab remains focused on conducting attacks through individuals that have not been arrested before. The masterminds of the intended attacks are Kenyans, who are in middle and senior management levels of the terror group. Among them; Maalim Abass Guyo, Ahmed Iman Ali and Jan Mohamed Khan alias Abu Musab Al Mombasa," the NIS report says. Last year, Iman released a video declaring war against Kenya on behalf of Al-Shabaab. Interviews with those who know Sheikh Iman, a former chairman of Muslim Youth Centre (MYC) in Pumwani, Nairobi, say he has been controversial since his days at Jomo Kenyatta University of Science and Technology, where he graduated with a degree in engineering. Born either in 1973 or 1974, Iman presents security agents with something new in the fight against terrorism. Those who know him say he was a charming preacher with a fanatical following among various Kenyan communities. ************ Samantha Lewthwaite a.k.a. "White Widow" The British media has claimed she was involved in the terrorist attack on the Westgate Shopping Mall. There is no evidence so far to link her to the attack but police and security forces say Samantha Lewthwaite-- the widow of one of the four suicide bombers who devastated London in July 2005 -- was involved in the Kenya attack, let alone being a "mastermind," as the British papers have claimed. The International Police (Interpol) has issued a red-alert calling for arrest. She is wanted by Kenya "on charges of being in possession of explosives and conspiracy to commit a felony dating back to December 2011" as part of a suspected plot to bomb cities along the Kenyan coast at Christmas. ************ Abu Sandheere He is believed to have been the one who escorted the terrorists who attacked Westgate Shopping Mall. He is suspected to be a 50-year-old Kenyan man who is an associate of the late Al-Qaeda leader Fazul Abdullah. Sandheere, whose parents were a Maasai and a European, is thought to have escaped moments after the assault started on Saturday. "He escorted the attackers to the mall and then left as people were fleeing. He then travelled to the border and crossed to Somalia," said an intelligence source. According to counter-terrorism sources, the man seconded to Al-Shabaab by the Al-Qaeda network arrived in Somalia on Friday after days of avoiding the tight security that had been mounted across the country to stop suspected terrorists from escaping. Sandheere, said to be the regional Al-Qaeda man in charge of intelligence, logistics and special operations, escaped from Westgate with two other unidentified terrorists. He is also described as being "extremely sharp".

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Africa Horn

Al-Shabab leader's ambitions appear to be as complex as his personality

2013-09-27

[Washington Post] Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr, known as Godane, is bookish, eloquent in both Arabic and Somali, recites poetry and is known to quote from obscure academic journals, analysts say. Yet he trained and fought in Afghanistan for the jihadist cause and has ruthlessly killed most of his rivals to seize control of al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... , a Somali militia linked to al-Qaeda that has asserted responsibility for the mall attack. The vicious aesthete-intellectual. Wasn't Lenin one of those? Al-Shabaab has said the attack, which began Saturday, was Dire Revenge™ for Kenya sending troops into Somalia. But the carnage had just as much to do with the struggles inside the militia and Godane's desire to make al-Shabaab -- and himself -- stronger and more relevant in the global jihad against the United States and its allies, according to analysts. Late Wednesday, in an audio posted on a Web site linked to al-Shabaab, Godane warned Kenyans of more attacks if the government refuses to withdraw its forces. "There is no way that you, the Kenyan public, could possibly endure a prolonged war in Somalia and you cannot also withstand a war of attrition inside your own country," he said, according to an al-Shabaab Twitter feed in English. "So make your choice today and withdraw all your forces . . . [or] be prepared for an abundance of blood that will be spilt in your country, economic downfall and displacement." The four-day siege of the Westgate Premier Shopping Mall was Godane's first major cross-border assault since he eliminated key al-Shabaab leaders in the summer and solidified his grip over the militia. His ambitions appear to be as complex as his personality. "Godane is clearly positioning himself as the next Anwar al-Awlaki ... Born in Las Cruces, New Mexico, zapped in Yemen, al-Awlaki was a dual citizen of the U.S. and Yemen. He was an Islamic holy man who was a trainer for al-Qaeda and its franchises. His sermons were attended by three of the 9/11 hijackers, by Fort Hood murderer Nidal Malik Hussein, and Undieboomer Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. He was the first U.S. citizen ever placed on a CIA target list... -- on top of his game as the head of a local al-Qaeda affiliate, and with international ambitions," said Abdi Aynte, director of the Heritage Institute for Policy Studies, a Mogadishu-based think tank. He was referring to the Yemeni American preacher who was a key figure in al-Qaeda's Yemen branch and was killed in a 2011 U.S. drone strike. Since 2011, al-Shabaab has lost much territory in Somalia, pushed out of key cities by Western-backed African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... forces and weakened by infighting and loss of funding. An ideological and directional split among the militia's leaders has pit nationalists, who want the group to remain focused on ousting Somalia's government, against transnationalists such as Godane, who have pushed the militia to pursue a wider jihadist agenda, regionally and beyond. After a brutal struggle, Godane emerged victorious. He transformed the militia into a more streamlined, unified and radicalized terrorist force, said J. Peter Pham, head of the Africa Center at the Atlantic Council. In some ways, the mall attack was an announcement to radical Musselmens and the West that a new al-Shabaab had arrived -- with Godane in control.

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Africa Horn

Somalia's Al Shabaab Allied with Al Qaeda in Kenya

2012-05-01

(Sh. M. Network) --The militant group Al-Shabaab said it has allied with Al Qaeda in a drive to establish an Islamic state in Somalia and fight for Muslims across East Africa, offering a fresh test for U.S.-backed African peacekeepers struggling to defend a weak Somali government. In an Arabic audio message posed Monday on Al shabab internet forum, the leader of Al shabab Sheik Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr said that both the militants in Kenya and Somalia had agreed, to connect the horn of Africa jihad to the one led by Al Qaeda. Sheik Ahmed Iman, the leader of Islamic movement inKenyaalso said that the group is happy to merger with Al shabab in Somalia, saying that they will continue carrying out attacks inKenya. It isn't clear whether this new resolution will result in funding or training from Al Qaeda, or even if it will lead to an official endorsement from the global terror group. At the very least, the statement signals a tightening embrace with foreign fighters who have been supporting Al Shabaab's efforts to topple the Somali government.

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