Somali Extremists Have al Qaeda Ties

Another failed state has become a training ground for terrorists
The terrorist group that fired on Mr. Payne is al Shabab ("the Youths"), a one-time military wing of the Islamist Courts Union that ruled Somalia for six months before Ethiopia invaded and deposed them in December 2006. Designated as a terrorist organization by the State Department, al Shabab's aim is to create a Taliban-style Islamic state in Somalia. In pursuit of this goal it uses the most ruthless of methods: executions, beatings, torture and suicide bombing.
Since Ethiopian troops withdrew from Somalia earlier this year, al Shabab has taken control of important towns inland and along the coast, including the port towns of Kismayo and Marka. The group has also reportedly entered into financial arrangements with pirates operating from port cities under al Shabab's control. Al Shabab's numbers are steadily rising; it's estimated that they now have up to 7,000 fighters. And it helps that they pay their fighters with cash as well as the promise of martyrdom.
Unfortunately, al Shabab is a particularly difficult terrorist group to combat because of its asymmetrical and loose organizational structure. Similar to post-9/11 al Qaeda, its senior leaders give broad direction but leave day-to-day operations to individual commanders who control groups of around 100 fighters. So even if senior leaders are killed, individual commanders can easily continue operating.
Al Qaeda has had a relationship with Somali extremists since the early 1990s when Osama bin Laden was based in Sudan. During my time as an FBI agent targeting the al Qaeda network, I interviewed several operatives in the late '90s and '00s who told me how bin Laden established a base in Nairobi to facilitate the group's Somali operations under the cover of a nonprofit group called Help Africa. Members of the Nairobi cell coordinated the 1998 East Africa embassy suicide bombings that killed 12 U.S. citizens and hundreds of Africans. This marked al Qaeda's emergence as an internationally recognized top terrorist group and earned bin Laden a place on the FBI's most-wanted list.
To this day, al Shabab's leadership is closely linked to al Qaeda. Many in the current leadership cadre are graduates of al Qaeda training camps. Al Shabab leader Ibrahim Haji Jama trained with al Qaeda in Afghanistan (his nom de guerre in Somalia is al-Afghani). Another leader, Abu Taha al-Sudani, known also as Tariq Abdullah, was al Qaeda's leader in East Africa and is believed to be the main financier of its African operations.
Veteran al Qaeda terrorists help make up al Shabab's ranks. They include Fazul Abdullah Muhammad, a former member of bin Laden's Nairobi base who is wanted by the U.S. -- a $5 million FBI bounty is on his head -- for his involvement in the 1998 East African embassy bombings. Two other prominent al Shabab members, Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan and Issa Osman Issa, are also wanted for their involvement in terrorist activities.
Bin Laden himself has described al-Shabab as "one of the most important armies in the Mujahid Islamic battalion." And in a recording last February, bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, devoted the bulk of his message to praising al Shabab in Somalia, calling their recent activities "a step on the path of the victory of Islam."..more..http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123976236664319677.html#mod=rss_opinion_main