al-Shabaab Leader Sanctioned as Zawahiri Responds to Group's Oath of Loyalty

The United States applied financial and travel sanctions on three top leaders of Al Shabaab, the Islamist insurgency that is consolidating territory in south and central Somalia, as the process of the group's official integration with al Qaeda appears to be underway. The sanctions target Shabaab founder and emir Ahmed Abdi Aw Mohamed, recruiter Issa Osman Issa, and spokesman and military commander Sheikh Abu Mukhtar Robow.Ahmed Abdi Aw Mohamed, emir of the Harakah Al-Shabaab Mujahidin (Youth Mujahideen Movement/Army of Difficulty), founded the group in 2006 as the militant youth wing of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU). A native of Somaliland from the Ishaak clan, he is 31 years old and is also known as Sheikh Mukhtar Abu Zubayr and Godane, the nickname of his grandfather. He has taken on a more visible role since the death of Shabaab's chief military commander Aden Hashi Ayro in a May 1, 2008, airstrike. In April 2008, Ethiopian forces announced Mohamed‘s death during a shoot out at a roadblock near Jowhar, however, this was proven false.more..http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/11/shabaab_leader_sanct.php

Somali factions seek to claim pirate loot

HARADHERE, Somalia, Nov. 22 (UPI) -- Islamic militants and other factions are pouring into a lawless region of Somalia to grab shares of ransom being demanded by seaborne pirates, observers say.
With Somali hijackers demanding $25 million for the release of the Saudi Arabian oil supertanker Sirius Star, an array of Somali militiamen ranging from the hard-line Islamic militants of the al-Shabaab movement to tribesmen linked to the pirates themselves have descended on the town of Haradhere, the BBC reported Saturday more..http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/11/22/Somali_factions_seek_to_claim_pirate_loot/UPI-19521227354921/

Huda Barkhad, Her Homosexual Friends, and the Rise of Islamic Terrorism in Pseudo-State Somaliland