After Kampala attack, Somali militants promise more operations

Al-Shabaab, the Somali militant group that claimed responsibility for Sunday's deadly attacks in Uganda, is promising to "unleash a new tide of terror," but Uganda's leader has vowed to "deal with the authors of this crime and fight back. This is only the beginning," Al-Shabaab warned Thursday in a statement on the internet. Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the bombings that killed 76 people in two locations in the Ugandan capital of Kampala. The attackers struck an Ethiopian restaurant in a neighborhood dotted with bars and popular among expatriates. Two other bombs exploded at a rugby center. Police in Uganda have reported arrests in connection with the bombings, which also wounded dozens of people. Al-Shabaab had said it is waging war "against 6,000 collaborators," a reference to the African Union peacekeeping force that includes Ugandan troops and warned Ugandans to refrain from involvement in Somalia. Burundi is a main troop contributor nation, and it has been threatened, too.

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Uganda attacks signal terror group potential

If the Somali terror group al-Shabab is responsible for the deadly attacks in Uganda, it could mean the group is capable of carrying out successful attacks in Africa and beyond, according to an intelligence assessment by the FBI and the Homeland Security Department. Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the explosions that killed 76 people watching the World Cup final in Uganda on Sunday. Intelligence officials have long warned that sporting events and large gatherings are attractive targets for terrorists.

President Barack Obama, in an interview with South Africa Broadcasting Corp., said the statements indicate that al-Shabab and other terrorist organizations see Africa "as a potential place where you can carry out ideological battles that kill innocents without regard to long-term consequences for their short-term tactical gains." The attack would be al-Shabab's first successful strike outside of Somalia, according to the July 12 intelligence analysis obtained by The Associated Press. The document is marked for official use only and was distributed to law enforcement officials across the country.

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Terror suspect may be headed to Texas through Mexico

A Homeland Security Alert is asking Houston police and Harris County Sheriff’s deputies to keep their eyes open for a potential terrorist. The alert focuses on Mohamed Ali, a suspected member of the terrorist group Al Shabaab. It indicates he may be traveling to the U.S. through Mexico. Al Shabaab is a terrorist group based in Somalia with links to the Somali attacks dramatized in the movie “Blackhawk Down.” A few months ago, the group announced its allegiance to Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden. “[Al Shabaab operatives] are certainly a real threat to U.S. security and an increasing threat to U.S. security,” said Rice University Baker Institute Fellow Joan Neuhaus Schaan. Schaan is an expert on Homeland Security and terrorism, and her research is reviewed by the U.S. government, military and civil authorities. She said Al-Shabaab trains extremists and wants to turn Somalia into the next Afghanistan.

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Sizing up 2010 terror threat in South Africa

South Africa's intelligence agencies have jacked up their investigations into possible terrorist threats, specifically emanating from Somalia, according to a top intelligence analyst. But Mark Schroeder, director of sub-Saharan Africa for the United States intelligence company Strategic Forecasting, insisted that crime, rather than terrorism, remains the major threat for tourists traveling to South Africa for the Fifa World Cup. Schroeder said that although an al-Qaeda-linked Somali militant group, al-Shabaab, had allegedly established a network in the Cape Flats that had led to South African spooks visiting Somalia and Kenya, it was unlikely that Muslim extremists would launch attacks in South Africa, as it was their "logistical hub".

Schroeder was interviewed in the wake of a deadly terrorist attack on the Togolese national football team in Angola that left three people dead and eight injured. Additionally, in September last year the US government closed its embassy in Pretoria and all other US government offices for two days after intelligence reports that al-Shabaab was planning to bomb American interests in South Africa. It is believed that Al-Shabaab are established in South Africa and are using the Somali diaspora for fundraising. But after the September threats against US facilities in South Africa, the South African Secret Service (Sass) sent agents to Kenya and Somalia to gather their own intelligence. In reality, crime in South Africa is the "primary concern" for tourists -- "not just making them aware of the problem, but explaining the do's and don'ts of traveling in South Africa, where they should go and where they shouldn't".

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Missing-Somali Case Gives Recruitment Clues To FBI

When federal authorities unsealed terrorism-related charges Monday against eight Minnesota men, they provided the first detailed account of how some two dozen young Somali-Americans were persuaded to leave the U.S. and join an Islamist insurgency in Somalia. While the recruitment methods are textbook and familiar — such as questioning the men's Muslim faith and dedication to Somalia — the effectiveness, and breadth, of the campaign has surprised intelligence officials.

"This is a unique case in the United States," the special agent in charge of the FBI's Minneapolis office, Ralph Boelter, told NPR. "Folks in the United States traveled to a foreign country to attend a terrorist camp, run by al-Shabaab in this case. Some actually engaged in hostilities on behalf of al-Shabaab. We haven't seen anything quite like this before."

If the allegations are true, the FBI in Minneapolis has been investigating one of the largest alleged terrorist networks in the United States since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The numbers tell the story — some two dozen young men were recruited and at least 14 allegedly helped funnel the young men to the front lines in Somalia. The FBI is also investigating disappearances of young Somalis in San Diego, Boston and Ohio.

According to the charging documents, the recruitment effort in Minneapolis began back in 2007, a short time after Ethiopian troops had invaded Somalia. A cooperating witness allegedly told the FBI that he and other men met at various locations around the Twin Cities to talk politics. The conversation invariably turned to the Ethiopian invasion. The young men wanted to know what they could do to help.

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Postcards from the Edge: Somalia

Somali Piracy: An Escalating Security Dilemma

Piracy off the coast of Somalia has grown exponentially in recent years. The growing trend, which is the result of a number of factors including the unstable political environment, the collapsed economy, and the presence of Islamic terror groups in Somalia. The research concludes that only a unified stance by the international community that addresses a two-part strategy can facilitate the eradication of Somali piracy. If the global actors involved do not enhance cooperation in the fight against piracy while simultaneously enacting measures to improve stability in Somalia, global commercial trade will continue to suffer from extortion, and Islamic radicalism in Somalia will continue to thrive and potentially overtake the country.

Birthed In Blood, Somali Terror Group Goes Global

In the summer of 2008, a battle raged about 300 miles south of Mogadishu. There, along the banks of the Jubba River, rival militias fought for control of a port city. After days of savage conflict, the victors danced in the bloodied streets. Four years earlier, the Islamist group Al-Shabaab, "the youth," had been just another obscure gang, thugs for hire in Somalia's civil war. Now, they were seasoned warriors, the conquerors of Kismayo.

Al-Shabaab hasn't looked back since. Today, the group aims to be a world-class terrorist outfit, recruiting fighters under the banner of religious holy war. They are more than just a local band of fanatics. They may be plotting the next 9/11. When you start to "connect the dots," (the phrase made famous by the 9/11 Commission), you find there are a lot of dots to connect Al-Shabaab is no home-grown terrorist boy's club. Various news sources report "foreign fighters" have joined their ranks, some in high-level leadership positions. That suggests that group has an international perspective and sees itself as part of the global Islamist campaign.

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Suicide bomber in Somalia lived in U.S.

An online report has identified a Somali-American from Seattle, Washington, as one of the suicide bombers who killed 21 peacekeepers in Mogadishu, Somalia, last week. The bomber allegedly lived in Washington until 2007. The report could not independently be confirmed.

An FBI spokesman in Seattle, Fred Gutt, said investigators are aware of the report, but he declined to comment about it in detail. When asked if the FBI was looking into the report, Gutt said only that "we have continuing outreach efforts with the [Somali-American] community."

Federal agents have been investigating possible recruiting efforts in the United States by al-Shabaab, a Somali group with ties to al-Qaeda that the U.S. classifies as a terrorist organization.

In an attack September 17, suicide bombers drove vehicles with United Nations markings into the headquarters of an African Union peacekeeping mission in Mogadishu. The vehicles blew up inside the compound, killing at least 21 people, the mission said.

Last Tuesday, a Somali website reported that at least one of the bombers was a Somali-American who left the United States two years ago. The website is operated by members of the Murusude clan, who make up the majority of Al-Shabaab.

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Two Terrorist Leaders Caught Or Killed

Somali anger at al-Qaeda killing

Somali Islamists will avenge the killing by US forces of a top al-Qaeda suspect in Somalia, a top al-Shabab commander has told the BBC. Kenyan-born Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan is believed to have been killed in a US military helicopter raid. US agents have been hunting Nabhan for years over attacks on a hotel and an Israeli airliner in Kenya in 2002.

IDF arrests head of Hamas armed wing in Tulkarm

Special IDF and police forces arrested two Palestinians in Tzurif overnight Tuesday wanted for terror activity. One of the men arrested was Mohammad Harwish, who is head of Hamas's armed wing in Tulkarm. Harwish was involved in planning the 2002 deadly suicide bombing in the Park Hotel in Netanya. The two were being interrogated by security forces.

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Al Qaeda-Linked American Terrorist Unveiled, as Charges Await Him in U.S.

A week after the 9/11 attacks, a young Muslim at South Alabama University told the school's newspaper it was "difficult to believe a Muslim could have done this." Now, eight years later, he is professing to launch attacks himself and calling on others to join the fight, as terror-related charges await him at home in Alabama.

Abu Mansour al-Amriki — or "The American" — has become one of the most recognizable and outspoken voices of terrorist propaganda. He was born Omar Hammami in May 1984, and he grew up outside Mobile, Ala., in the city of Daphne.

He has been in war-torn Somalia for several years, fighting the secular government there with a group known as al-Shabaab, which has ties to Al Qaeda and was labeled a terrorist organization by the U.S. government last year. Only recently has he taken on a starring — and jarring — role in al-Shabaab's outreach efforts.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been looking into him for several years. In fact, a grand jury in Mobile, Ala., has already indicted him on charges of providing material support to terrorists, a source said. It's unclear when the indictment was filed.

• "Al Shabaab", Council on Foreign Relations, 2/27/09.
• "Al-Shabab", New York Times, Topics Page.

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