Bombardment of Somali Refugee Camp: Tragedy Symbolic of Kenya's Doomed Invasion.Kenya air raid in Somalia Jilib town 'kills civilians'

Kenya air raid in Somalia Jilib town 'kills civilians'
Kenya Invades Somalia. Does It Get Any Dumber?

Kenya's hasty invasion of its northern neighbor Somalia took a tragic turn late Sunday when , according to witnesses on the ground, the Kenyan air force bombed a refugee camp sheltering those fleeing Somalia''s famine, killing three children and two adults. A spokesman for the Kenyan military in Nairobi insisted the bombers killed 10 fighters from the Islamic militant group, al-Shabab, and wounded 45 others in the southern Somali town of Jibril; he dismissed reports of civilian casualties as al-Shabab propaganda. But those statements looked doubtful in the light of information from the independent medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres which said it was treating victims of the aerial bombardment of a refugee camp near Jibril, an attack which it added its staff had witnessed. "I can confirm five dead and 45 wounded," Gautam Chatterjee, Head of Mission for MSF Holland in Somalia, told Reuters. "In our hospital in Marare, we received 31 children, nine women and five men. All of them of with shrapnel injuries." Though MSF did not specify whose airplanes carried out the bombing, the only bombers known to be operating in the region are Kenya's.

For many, the bombing of a camp housing those who fleeing the world's worst famine will come as tragic, literal proof of the misguided nature of Kenya's military adventure in Somalia. Two weeks ago, Kenya sent anywhere between a few hundred to a few thousand to troops over its northeastern into Somalia in pursuit of al-Shabab, a Somalia-based Islamic group which is fighting the officially recognized government in Mogadishu and its African Union protection force (made up of Ugandans and Burundians). Al-Shabab also has an international capacity: several dozen of its members are Americans and Europeans and last year it killed 76 people in simultaneous bomb attacks on two bars in the Ugandan capital, Kampala. For its part, Kenya took action after the shooting dead of a British tourist, and the kidnapping of two Spanish aid workers and two more tourists (one British and one - who later died - French), all attacks which occurred in the past few weeks near the Somali border and which it blamed on al-Shabab.
(PHOTOS: Collateral crisis — a terrible famine in insurgency-ravaged Somalia.)
From the first, Kenya's action has appeared poorly thought out. Somalia, after all, is not a place to invade lightly. U.N. and U.S. attempts to back a humanitarian operation in 1993 ended in the firefight known as Blackhawk Down, when 18 American soldiers were killed in Mogadishu. An earlier Ethiopian attempt to crush al-Shabab and other Islamist factions in Somalia in 2006 ended more than two years later with Ethiopia withdrawing after a bloody occupation that seemed to only embolden al-Shabab.Read more:

Kenya, Somalia Plea for Help Battling al-Shabab. Kenya, Kenya and Somalia Set on Eliminating Al-Shabaab Stronghold.Somalia invoke ICC on Al Shabaab

NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 31 – Kenya and Somalia now want leaders of the rag tag Al Shabaab militia to be prosecuted at the International Criminal Court (ICC) based at The HagueThis was announced by Prime Ministers Raila Odinga (Kenya) and Abdiweli Mohammed Ali (Somalia) in a communiqué following a meeting in Nairobi on Monday afternoon.Foreign Affairs Assistant Minister Richard Onyonka read the joint communiqué that stated that Somalia’sTransitional Federal Government, TFG “will seek ICC assistance in beginning immediate probe into crimes against humanity committed by members of Al Shabaab movement with the aim of seeking indictment assoon as possible.” more  Kenya, Somalia invoke ICC on Al Shabaab

Kenya and Somalia have called for more international help to defeat al-Shabab, the al-Qaida-linked militant group which the neighboring countries have described as “a common enemy.”After meeting in Nairobi on Monday, Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga and his Somali counterpart Abdiwelli Mohammed Ali called for more troops to join the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia.In a joint statement, they also requested “logistical and financial support” for a planned blockade of the port city of Kismayo, a key al-Shabab stronghold and supply center.The AU mission currently consists of 9,500 troops based in and around the capital, Mogadishu, where they are providing support for the Somali transitional government.Djibouti has pledged another 3,000 troops for the mission.Separately, an international humanitarian group says an airstrike that hit a camp for internally displaced people in southern Somalia has killed five people and wounded more than 40 others.Doctors Without Borders said late Sunday the bombing in the town of Jilib killed mostly women and children.The aid group did not comment on who carried out the strike and called on all parties to respect the rights of civilians.Local officials said the strike targeted an area where al-Shabab militants were distributing food to displaced persons.Kenya has claimed to have bombed militant positions in southern Somalia in recent days.Kenya sent an undisclosed number of troops across the border earlier this month to fight al-Shabab, which it blames for a series of kidnapping of foreigners on Kenyan soil. H/T VOA

Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga and his Somali counterpart Abdiweli Mohamed Ali have both vowed to work together in an effor to put an end to threats posed by Somali terrorist cell, al Shabaab. This announcement comes even as the Islamic insurgents accuse both governments of causing several Somali civilian casualties following aerial attacks on the al-Shabaab stronghold of Jibil by Kenyan military. Kenyan military dismissed the claims of the terrorist group as "propaganda". However, the BBC cited a statement released by international group Medecins San Frontier which claimed that the Sunday attack had hit a camp for displaced people in the area. According to the BBC, MSF-Holland Somalia mission head Gautam Chatterjee confirmed that Kenya's assault on the Shabaab-controlled region had also claimed the lives of a man and woman, while 45 others were wounded shrapnels dispersed during the blasts. In a BBC interview, Kenyan military spokesman Maj Emmanuel Chirchir denied that Kenya's air force had bombed the camp, adding that the "MSF is being used by al-Shabaab [for propaganda purposes]."PM Raila Odinga also raised his voice in support of the Kenyan military's actions. "Our troops are not targeting civilians. We are actually just targeting al Shabaab holdouts, or hideouts. So definitely, we have not targeted any civilians. "It would be most unfortunate, but the information we have is that that is just al Shabaab propaganda," he said in a news conference.Spokesman for the military claimed an al-Shabaab militant had driven a truck laden with explosive into the camp, causing the casualties, according to the BBC. Major Chirchir said the Kenyan fighter jet had attacked a terrorist base near the refugee camp. "We received intelligence that a top al-Shabab leader was to visit a camp in Jilib so we conducted an air raid," he said. Maj Chirchir said "human intelligence" showed that 10 al-Shabab fighters had been killed and 47 wounded.Mr Chatterjee said MSF had evacuated its staff from Jilib, according to reports from the AFP cited by the BBC.However, both Somali and Kenyan government officials are united in their desire to forge ahead with the elimination of the terrorist cell. Kenyan PM said: "There is no daylight between Somalia and Kenya in fighting al Shabaab. They are a threat to the safety and the security of both countries, therefore it's necessary for us to have a common strategy against a common enemy. We should have a unity of purpose, and we should work in tandem until this threat is eliminated from Somalia and from the Horn of Africa."Kenyan assistant minister of Foreign Affairs Richard Onyonka said: "The Transitional Federal Government will seek the ICC assistance in beginning immediate investigations into crimes against humanity committed by individuals within the al Shabaab movement with the aim of seeking their indictments as soon as possible." more Kenya and Somalia Set on Eliminating Al-Shabaab Stronghold

Abdisalan Hussein Ali, 22 years old From Minneapolis MN.American Identified as Bomber in Attack on African Union in Somalia. Al-Shabab suicide bomber urges terrorist attacks against ,The al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabab released an audiotape message specifically called for terrorist do attacks ,jihad in America,Canada, do jihad in England [and] anywhere in Europe, in Asia, in Africa, in China, in Australia – anywhere you find kuffar [infidels],” it says.

update Somali-American Aden al-Ansari and Cabdi Salaam al-Muhajir, carried out Somalia suicide bombing, Islamists claim

do jihad in Canada, America,do jihad in England [and] anywhere in Europe, in Asia, in Africa, in China, in Australia – anywhere you find kuffar [infidels],” it says.

Abdisalan Ali is one of 20 missing Somali youth from MN

MOGADISHU, Somalia — The voice in the recording sounds unmistakably familiar — the tenor, the colloquialisms — a boy who grew up in America. The recording was a suicide message, posted online on Sunday by an Islamist militia aligned with Al Qaeda. The voice was said to be that of Abdisalan Hussein Ali, 22, who was born in Somalia but spent his formative years in Minneapolis. His life appeared to have come full circle here on Saturday, when he is said to have blown himself up in an attack on African Union troops in Mogadishu. He would be the third American known to become a suicide bomber for Somalia’s Shabab rebels. The Shabab said that Mr. Ali was one of two suicide bombers in the attack, which the militant group said killed scores of peacekeepers. The African Union has confirmed that it suffered casualties, but has not disclosed the number. But as the Shabab have lost power and support in Somalia in recent months, the battle has turned into a war of words as much as weapons, and the claim of an American suicide bomber packs a powerful punch. Omar Jamal, a Somali diplomat at the United Nations, said that Mr. Ali was one of the bombers. Mr. Ali’s friends and family listened to the recording, Mr. Jamal said, “and they all say that it is him.” A spokesman for the American Embassy in Nairobi said the United States had “seen reports” that one of the bombers was an American citizen, and was investigating them. Mr. Ali was known by the F.B.I. to be one of an estimated 30 Americans who have joined the Shabab, at least 20 of whom came from the Somali community in Minneapolis. He had been an ambitious pre-med student at the University of Minnesota, hoping for an internship at the Mayo Clinic, before he disappeared in 2008. The audio recording, in which the speaker exhorts Westerners to join the fight, appears to reflect those qualities. “Don’t just sit around, you know, and be, you know, a couch potato and just like, just chill all day,” the voice on the recording says. “Today jihad is what is most important. It’s not important that you become a doctor, or some sort of engineer.” For Mr. Ali, life began in war and seems to have ended that way. He was only a few months old when his family fled the strife in Somalia in a makeshift boat, landing first at a Kenyan refugee camp, his mother told The New York Times in a 2009 interview. The family, with 12 children, arrived in Seattle in 2000 and then moved to Minneapolis. Minneapolis has embraced generations of refugees from around the world, and Mr. Ali’s high school, Thomas Alva Edison High in northeast Minneapolis, calls itself an “International World School,” offering open houses to prospective students in Spanish; Hmong, which is spoken in Southeast Asia; and Somali. During high school, he sold sneakers out of his locker to make money to help support his family. He lifted weights, and his friends called him “Bullethead.” He was elected president of the school’s Somali Student Association, and he later became a caseworker at a prestigious law firm. At the University of Minnesota, he majored in chemistry and held a part-time job as a security guard at the management school there. “He was a highly motivated kid,” said a fellow student, an upperclassman who became his mentor. “He wanted to change lives.” Why and when he turned to Islamic militancy is unclear. A friend of Mr. Ali’s, who attended middle school and then college with him, said they were part of a tight-knit group of Somali-Americans who grew up together and would talk about Somalia and debate politics. “There was a desire in all of us, that our parents always talk about, the great Somalia,” the friend said, who did not want to be identified for fear of being questioned by the F.B.I. Mr. Ali was not her first Somali friend to join the Shabab, she said, nor the first to die as a member of the group. She described Mr. Ali as “very outgoing.” “We used to call him a womanizer,” she said. “He was always in with the ladies. But then all that changed.” In Arabic class, he started sitting in the back, not talking to anyone. “But then again, you’re not going to look at him and say his personality changed, he’s going to get radical and leave the country,” she said. “In college that’s when you find out who you are, so I didn’t think much of it then.” One night in 2008, he was wrongly accused of robbing a Subway sandwich shop on campus. Friends said the experience left a mark on him long after the charges were dropped. In November 2008, he disappeared, along with two other Somali-Americans. “For an unknown reason the family thinks that” Mr. Ali “may have got on a plane and went somewhere,” a Minneapolis Police Department missing persons report says. The Shabab, which controlled most of southern Somalia by the end of last year but have since lost ground, have posted videos on YouTube aimed at encouraging young Somali-Americans to come here. Many have heeded the call. In October 2008, Shirwa Ahmed, also from Minneapolis, blew himself up in one of a string of Shabab attacks in northern Somalia. In May of this year, Farah Mohamed Beledi, 27, of St. Paul, tried to attack a government checkpoint in Mogadishu but was killed by African Union troops before he could detonate his explosives. Another American, from Washington State, was reported to have been part of a suicide squad that attacked an African Union base in Mogadishu in 2009, killing more than 15 peacekeepers, but his identity has not been confirmed. And this month, two Somali-American women from Minnesota were convicted of aiding the Shabab. However, many Somali-Americans have returned, not to fight, but to help rebuild the country, including the current prime minister and his predecessor. Speaking of Saturday’s suicide attack, the weak American-backed transitional government expressed sorrow over what it said was not just a loss of life, but of a vital human resource. “It’s tragic, because we were hoping for this young man to come back and take part in the rebuilding of the country,” said Suldan A. Farahsed, a government spokesman. “We needed young people like that.” Mr. Ali kept in touch with his old life back in the United States by telephone and Facebook. His Facebook page shows him wearing a skullcap and wielding a baseball bat. The friend says that Mr. Ali and a mutual friend last exchanged Facebook messages three weeks ago, but that the mutual friend stopped contacting Mr. Ali because “he said things that made her uncomfortable.” Two years ago, he told a friend in Minneapolis that he would never attack the United States. “Why would I do that?” the friend recalled Mr. Ali saying. “My mom could be walking down the street.”  nyt

Abdisalan Hussein Ali, 22 years old From Minneapolis MN.American Identified as Bomber in Attack on African Union in Somalia aka abdi Salaam al-Muhajir, carried out Somalia suicide bombing, Islamists claim

Abdisalan Ali is one of 20 missing Somali youth from MN

uptateAbdisalan Hussein Ali, 22 years old From Minneapolis MN.American Identified as Bomber in Attack on African Union in Somalia

Shabaab jihadists get his 72 virgin(CNN) -- A suicide bomber who carried out an attack in Somalia this weekend was an American citizen of Somali descent, a website associated with the Al-Shabaab Islamist movement claimed Sunday.

The website named the bombers as Aden al-Ansari and Cabdi Salaam al-Muhajir, and posted what it said was an audio interview with al-Muhajir speaking American-accented English.The speaker urges his "brothers and sisters" to "do jihad" in America, Canada, England, "anywhere in Europe, in Asia, in Africa, in China, in Australia, anywhere you find kuffar," a derogatory term for non-Muslims.The African Union force trying to establish order in Somalia said there had been an attack Saturday involving two suicide bombers in the capital Mogadishu, but said AU troops "beat off" the attack by "al-Qaeda linked terrorists."Al-Shabaab is associated with al Qaeda and is considered a terrorist organization by the United States. The African Union military spokesman in the country did not immediately respond to a CNN question about the identity of the bombers or whether any AU troops were injured.

Omar Jamal, a Somali diplomat at the United Nations, identified the person who made the audio recordings as Abdisalam Ali of Minneapolis. He told CNN that friends of Ali had listened to the messages in English and Somali and were "convinced it is him."

The discrepancy in names may mean that the name released by Al-Shabaab is a nom de guerre.

Jamal said Abdisalam left Minneapolis on November 4, 2008, with another man, Burhan Hassan, who has since been killed.Kyle Loven, an FBI spokesman in Minneapolis, told CNN, "We're aware of the reporting but not able to confirm any IDs at this time."In the Somali-language interview that Al-Shabaab released, the speaker says he has been fighting with the group for two years and killed "many infidels" with his own hands.Jamal said this weekend's bombing was the third time a Minnesota Somali-American had carried out a suicide bombing in Somalia.The previous two were Shirwa Ahmed, 27, who was the first confirmed American suicide bomber in U.S. history, and Farah Mohamed Beledi, also 27.Ahmed killed himself and 29 others in the fall of 2008. The FBI identified Beledi as one of two suicide bombers responsible for killing two African Union soldiers in Somalia in May.

In recent years, approximately 20 young men -- most of them Somali-Americans -- have traveled from the Minneapolis area to Somalia to train with Al-Shabaab, and a number of them have gone on to fight with the terrorist organization, U.S. officials said.

And this month, a federal jury found two Minnesota women guilty of raising money for Al-Shabaab.

According to the federal indictment, Amina Farah Ali, 35, and Hawo Mohamed Hassan, 64, of Rochester, Minnesota, solicited funds in ways that included going door-to-door "under the false pretense that the funds were for the poor and needy."The two were charged with one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.Ali was also found guilty of 12 other counts including sending more than $8,000 in 2008 and 2009.

Halkaan ka dhageyso Wareysiyada walaalaha oo Soomaali ah
interview with al-Muhajir speaking American-accented English.
Halkaan ka dhageyso Wareysiga oo English ah

Somali militants post tape they claim made by American who blew himself up in AU base attack

Pictures of the 10 FBI most wanted Minnesota Somali jihadists, all from Minneapolis but now in Somalia.

 

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Somali-American carried out suicide attack of Mogadishu base, al-Shabab militants say

Al-Shabab claims deadly Mogadishu blast. Bomb attack outside government compound in Somali capital leaves at least 70 people dead and many others wounded.

Somalia's al Shabaab vows huge blast in Kenya..

the head of the snake is right  in Eastleigh Nairobi – Kenya
Do you remember

protester in fatigues waved the flag of al Shabaab Terrorest Downtown Nairobi Kenya,Deadly protests

 Somalia's al Shabaab rebels called on Thursday for supporters in Kenya to carry out a major strike in retaliation for a 12-day military incursion by east Africa's powerhouse.Kenya has sent soldiers and heavy weapons into southern Somalia to crush the al Qaeda-linked militants Nairobi blames for a string of kidnappings on Kenyan soil and frequent border incursions.Kenyan units have advanced on several fronts with Somali government troops and allied militias toward al Shabaab strongholds and a fighter jet bombed its port city of Kismayu on Sunday."The time to ask Kenya to stop war has passed. The only option is to fight them. Kenya, you have started the war and so you have to face the consequences," Sheikh Muktar Robow Abu Mansoor, a top al Shabaab official, told a demonstration.Kenyan military spokesman Emmanuel Chirchir told Reuters their forces clashed with al Shabaab fighters in southern Somalia, east of a town called Tabda, on Thursday and two wounded soldiers had been evacuated."There was action today between al Shabaab and our forces. We managed to kill nine al Shabaab," he said.

An al Shabaab spokesman, Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, told Reuters his fighters had ambushed four Kenyan military vehicles near Tabda. He did not give details of any casualties.The al Shabaab official urged sympathizers in Kenya to shun the grenade attacks that hit the capital Nairobi on Monday, killing one person and wounding 29. Police said on Thursday that all but six of the victims had now returned home."The Kenyan Mujahideen who were trained by Osama in Afghanistan, stop throwing grenades at buses. We need a huge blow against Kenya. Hand grenades hurled can harm them but we want huge blasts," he told hundreds of people gathered in Elasha, near Mogadishu.Residents said al Shabaab had ordered them on Wednesday to close businesses and attend the anti-Kenyan rallies.The two grenade attacks on a bar and a bus terminus in downtown Nairobi have spooked Kenyans and security has been beefed up in the capital at hotels, government buildings, restaurants, bars and shopping malls.The blasts came two days after the U.S. embassy warned of an imminent attack. A Kenyan man has pleaded guilty to one of the attacks and being a member of al Shabaab.

MORE GRENADE ARRESTS

Kenya's Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere said two more people had been arrested over the attacks and were due to appear in court this week. He said the man who pleaded guilty went to Somalia in February and returned to Kenya in August.The United Nations has warned that hundreds of Kenyan Muslims have been recruited by al Shabaab and that youth organizations have raised funds for the Somali militants.A U.N. Monitoring Group report on Somalia published in July said al Shabaab had extensive funding, recruiting and training networks within Kenya.Al Shabaab has yet to carry out a major strike in Kenya but has used suicide bombers to devastating effect in Somalia and Uganda -- whose troops are fighting the rebels in Mogadishu as part of an African Union force.Twin suicide blasts in Kampala killed 79 people watching the soccer World Cup final last year and a truck bomb in Mogadishu killed more than 70 people earlier this month.Gunmen also attacked a vehicle in northeastern Kenya on Thursday not far from the Somalia border, killing four government employees and wounding two guards, officials said.Northeastern Provincial Commissioner James Ole Serian told Reuters the attackers were being pursued and another official said there were reports they were heading toward Somalia.

NO TALKS WITH SHABAAB

Kenya's southern neighbor Tanzania also issued a terrorism alert late on Wednesday following the Nairobi attacks."We have received threats," Robert Manumba, director of criminal investigations, told state TV. "Experience shows us that terrorism is an international crime. The al Shabaab group is composed of members from all east African countries."Al Qaeda struck Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, killing hundreds of people in suicide bombings of the U.S. embassies there.A diplomatic row between Somalia and Kenya over the incursion appeared to have been resolved. Somalia's president had cast doubt on the government's support for the Kenyan incursion on Monday.But on Wednesday, the Somali government said while it had not agreed for Kenyan troops to cross the border, the prime minister would head a new committee to liaise with Nairobi."We support Kenya's operation inside Somalia because they support, train and provide other military support to our troops to defeat al Shabaab and we are very grateful to Kenya," Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali told Reuters in an interview."But we have to understand one thing: Somalia has the lead, our military has the lead in all operations taking place inside Somalia," he said late on Wednesday.The semi-autonomous northern Somali region of Puntland also said on Thursday it supported the Kenyan incursion.Kenya has long watched its anarchic neighbor warily and its troops have made forays across the porous border with Somalia in the past, but this month's assault marks the first concerted push to drive the rebels away from the frontier.Kenyan government spokesman Mutua stressed Kenya had no intention of occupying southern Somalia and would return once it had dismantled al Shabaab's networks. He also said Kenya would not negotiate with the militants.

 

 

Official: Al-Shabaab leaders contact Kenyan government to negotiate

Nairobi, Kenya (CNN) -- Conflicting accounts emerged Thursday over whether the extremist group Al-Shabaab has signaled a desire to negotiate with Kenya amid a Kenyan military offensive targeting the group.

"They want to talk," said a Kenyan official who did not want to be named because he is not authorized to talk to the media.A spokesman for the Kenyan government, however, disputed that account and said Kenya wouldn't talk with Al-Shabaab even if the group did want to negotiate."Al-Shabaab has not contacted Kenya in any way," said the spokesman, Alfred Mutua. "There are no plans whatsoever for Kenya to negotiate with Al-Shabaab. Kenya does not negotiate with outlawed groups."He said Kenyan troops have enjoyed success since crossing the border into Somalia to pursue Al-Shabaab, which the United States and several Western nations view as a terrorist organization."They are running scared. I think they are busy running for their lives," Mutua said. "They don't have time to talk."Kenyan troops struck several Al-Shabaab training sites in Somalia early Thursday, a military spokesman said. The militant group, which includes many rival factions with different leaders, operates from Somalia.The group's leaders were said to be reaching out for possible negotiations two weeks after Kenyan troops stormed into Somalia to hunt for Al-Shabaab, which Kenya blames for recent kidnappings of foreigners in the nation.But Sheikh Mukhtar Robow Ali, Al-Shabaab's second-in-command who is also known as Abu Mansur, told supporters protesting in Mogadishu against the Kenyan incursion that if Kenya struck targets in Somalia, the militant group would strike back..has said its forces aim to take the Somali port city of Kismayo, described by the United Nations as a key stronghold and source of cash for Al-Shabaab. The United Nations estimates the group collects up to $50 million a year from businesses in Kismayo, about half of its annual income.Robow urged what he said were Al-Shabaab-trained fighters in Kenya to take action in return, with the Kenyan port of Mombasa a target.''Carry out attacks with heavy losses on Kenya," Robow said. "If Kenya closes the sea port in Kismayo, attack its banks, its port, its foreign guests and wherever there is a high-value target."Kenyan officials have declared self-defense justifies crossing the border with Somalia, saying a recent spate of abductions threatened its security and constituted an attack. Kidnappers have seized two aid workers and two European tourists in the past month."We have looked at what is going on ... and decided that unless we move in now, Al-Shabaab is not diminishing, it is becoming bigger and bigger," Mutua said.The war on terror cannot be won without dismantling the group's power, he said.Efforts to flush out the terror group will take a "couple of months, if that," Mutua said, adding that "weeks" would be a more ideal time frame.Analysts and diplomats have raised concerns over the incursion, saying it gives the terror group a reason to strike Kenya."If there is anything we have learned in the last couple of decades is that foreign intervention, especially military intervention, doesn't work in Somalia," said Rashid Abdi, an analyst for International Crisis Group. "I definitely understand Kenya's anxiety about the terror threat emanating from Somalia ... but I think there is more that Kenya could have done inside the country."While noting Kenya's "right to defend itself," the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi said it was not part of the decision to send troops to Somalia."The United States did not encourage the Kenyan government to act nor did Kenya seek our views," said Katya Thomas, the embassy's press officer. "We note that Kenya has a right to defend itself against threats to its security and its citizens."Somali President Sharif Ahmed thanked Kenya on Wednesday for helping battle the extremist group two days after he accused the nation of overstepping its boundaries.

Ra'iisul Wasaaraha DFKMG oo Markii ugu horeysey qiray, soona dhaweeyey in Ciidamo Kenya galeen Soomaaliya, Arrintaas oo khilaafsan hadalkii Sheikh Shariif ku diidanaa Ciidamada soo galay Soomaaliya..R/wasaare Cabdiwali Gaas maskax- isku dhex yaacaday! Maalin walbaana sheeko cusub shacbaka la hortaagan.

"Yaa Madaxweyne u ah DFKMG mar haddii uu meel mari waayey hadalkii Sheikh Shariif ku diidanaa Ciidanka Kenya ee ku soo duulay Soomaaliya...."

October 25 ayey ahayd markii Madaxweynaha DFKMG Sheikh Shariif uu shir jaraa'id oo ku qabtay magaalada Muqdisho si qeexan u sheegay in aan xukuumaddiisu raali ka ahayn ciidanka Kenya ee iska soo galay dalka Soomaaliya, waxana uu yiri "Ciidamo in ay dalka iska soo galaan Dawladuna ma ogola, Shacabka Soomaaliyeedna ma ogola". Telefishanada Kenya ayaa ku soo celceliyey hadalkaas Sheikh Shariif , ayagoo sheegay in hadalkaasi wiiqayo ciidamadooda ku sugan gudaha Soomaaliya. (Hoos ka daawo NTV iyo CitizenTV).Laakiin hadalkaas waxaa mid aad uga duwan sheegay ra'iisul Wasaaraha DFKMG C/weli Gaas, isagoo markii ugu horeysey qiray, soona dhaweeyey in ciidamo Kenya ay soo galeen Soomaaliya, isagoo sheegay in uu raali ka yahay, hadalkaas oo ka hor imanaya kii Sheikh Shariif ee uu ku diidanaa ciidamada. Waxana C/weli gaas uu sidaas qiray Oct 26, 2011, oo ah kow iyo toban maalmood kaddib markii ciidanka Kenya ku duuleen gudaha Soomaaliya ..more

The Most Wrongfully Vilified Person In the Somali History After the Late Nationalist Leader Sayid Mohamed Abdule Hassan

From the downfall of Somali’s central government to the present day, a smear campaign was undertaken by the rebel groups and warlords to malign and attribute today’s Somali problems to this former President. I will provide a concise examination and description stating his achievements and information that will determine the real culprits responsible for the complete and utter destruction of our national government.What lead to the Somali Revolution (1969): After Somalia gained its independence in 1960, the common population was filled with a sense of joy and pride and a new-found nationalism. With this New Age, the Somali people had great expectations and hopes, only for it shatter to the ground after witnessing the manifested corruption perpetrated by the leaders of the government. The civilian government was rifled with corruption (musuq maasuq) and tribalism (qabyalaad). What had started out as a putative nation was being torn apart at the seams through tribalism. Political appointments were made constantly to promote clan-power.For ten-years, the adoption of the script for the Somali language was put on hold whilst the political leaders were diligently buying votes, using government cars as taxis and hiring relatives to sign their praises (afminsharism) in the public market-place and in the teashops [1]. Most of the custom duties were pocketed by civil servants; hospitals were selling their medicines to local pharmacies. For instance, Somalia during that period had received the highest foreign aid per capita in comparison to other African States and yet there was no visible improvements in the standard of living save for the creation of Somali’s first generation of millionaires [2].I.M. Lewis admits that in “the ten years of civilian government in Somalia, elections and competition for material resources in urban contents and in the national context greatly expanded the arenas of rivalry between clans and their segments, bringing in to sharp conflict groups which had previously never interacted, and hardly never knew of each other’s existence”.[3]. Where the Western observers saw “democracy”, many Somalis saw �" mass and elite; nomad, farmer, and city dweller; civilian and military �" saw corruption, tribalism, indecision, and stagnation [4]. The Somali intellectuals profoundly dubbed this as neo-colonialism.The famous poet Mohamed Ismail responded to this situation in a way that exemplified Somali people's deepest feelings:"Oh! My friends the Somali Language is very perplexed;It is all anxiety in its present condition;The values of its words and expressions arebeing gagged by its own people;Its very back and hips are broken, andit accuses its own speakers for neglect;It is weeping with (deep) sorrow;It is being orphaned and its value is vanishing"[4] In the 1969 Somali elections, there were over 1000 clan-based candidates and more than 70 parties for fewer than 130 seats. The Somali population was simply tired of this power struggle, disunity and pseudo-democracy. After the assassination of the late president Sharmake, a revolutionary coup was staged by a sector within the state apparatus led by the armed forces and aided by intellectuals, public employees, and members of the petit bourgeoisie who were frustrated, disillusioned, and angered by the ineptitude of the post-independence governments.Mohamed Siad Barre, on 24 October 1969 explained the reason for the coup in a speech broadcasted on the radio where the nation was advertently listening: “Intervention by the Armed Forces was inevitable. It was no longer possible to ignore the evil things like corruption, bribery, nepotism, theft of public funds, injustice, and disrespect to our religion and the laws of the country. The laws were thrust aside and people did whatever they wanted.”[5].What did the Somali Revolutionary Government achieve for Somalia?: Within three years, President Mohamed Siad Barre achieved goals that took the previous government forever to decide on. He put in effect the choice of a script for the national language which is still regarded as the greatest achievement in the Somali history. A massive literacy campaign titled Bar ama Baro (Teach or Learn) was put in place where a large amount civil servants numbering up to 40,000 students were sent to the countryside to educate the nomads in literacy and by 1977, more than 70% of the Somali population had passed literacy tests, a result that had astonished the World and an achievement that was viewed by United Nations as one of the most successful mass-urban literacy campaign ever recorded.Effective campaigns were kick-started to eradicate corruption, laziness, tribalism and cleanliness. Additionally, self-help schemes and crash programmes played an important part in the life of the Somalis after the revolution. They ranged from sand-dune stabilization to tree plantings. Every capable Somali had to contribute as much as 7-hours-per-week of their spare time to construct government designed projects such as roads, hotels, office buildings, schools and housing.Industry, banks and businesses were nationalized. The budget system was centralized for the first time in Somalia history which lead to a unified budget, incorporating the former central and regional budgets. Foreign schools were taken over by the national government and foreigners were banned from employment in posts that could be filled by Somalis, a move that was welcomed by the general population. Security courts were created to solve tribal clashes. The Somali Army Force was increased and at the same time, the Somali Air Force was modernized which gradually lead to the first Somali Navy force being established. Private educations were abolished which lead to a substantial expansion of the school population at primary, secondary, and university level. Private medicines were phased and a nationwide immunisation program was launched. Training institutes for Animal Health Assistants were established which was a step greatly admired by Julius Nyerere, an authority on African socialism and first president of Tanzania, who remarked in 1974 during the Mogadishu �" OAU meeting that “The Somalis are practicing what we in Tanzania preach.” [6]The sample data below this reflects a sample comparison of what the government of President Mohamed Siad Barre had achieved in the Educational sector in contrast to the post-independence governments:1. In 1969, before the revolution, 55,021 students were enrolled in all schools located in the country. In 1975, after the revolution, the number jumped to 240,550, which is an increase of 437%!!2. In 4 years between the pre-revolution and post-revolution, there was an increase of 128% in elementary school enrolment which is equal to an annual growth rate of 32.1%.3. Intermediate school enrolments increased 51% (21.8% annual growth rate). Secondary education enrolments rose overall by 63.8% (16% annual growth rate).4. Before the Revolution, there were 6,412 secondary students of which 737 were girls. After 4-years of the Revolution, there were 10,500 students of which 1,773 were girls, considering girls; their enrolment increased 140.6% over the 4-year period.5. Before the Revolution, there were 3 technical and 2 vocational schools in Somalia. After the Revolution (before 1978), there were 16 of them: 4 technical schools, 2 polytechnics, 3 nursing, 2 clerical, and 1 each for maritime, agriculture, animal husbandry, range management, and telecommunication technicians.6. Before the Revolution (in 1969), there were 1,873 Somali teachers. Three years after the Revolution ( 1972-3) the number jumped to 4,486 teachers which was a rapid increase of 440% in teacher training.7. Before the Revolution, there was not a single university in Somalia. After the Revolution, in 1972, a Somalia National University was established with five initial faculties (gradually expanded in 1974) in education, law, economics, agriculture, and the sciences were in operation. In 1974, faculties of medicine, veterinary, sciences, natural sciences, maritime sciences, languages and literate and fine arts were established.8. Before the Revolution, intellectuals and academics still used the English or Italian terminological terms. After the Revolution, these terms were Somalized.9. Before the Revolution, all textbooks and school books were written by foreign authors and printed in foreign countries. After the Revolution, Somalis had their own school and textbooks, written by Somalis and printed in Somalia. Between 1973 and 1976, the Ministry of Education published over 6 million text-books in Somali.10. In 1975 alone, 1,180 class-rooms were built for primary educationA further listing of achievements of the Somali Revolutionary Government was capable of filling a whole.Dr. Abdi Sheikh Abdi, who was a vehement anti-Siad writer, could not deny its achievements as he mentions in his work, Ideology and Leadership in Somalia,"It can hardly be denied that Somalia under its present leadership has achieved some impressive results. This is most apparent to someone, like myself, who had been out of the country for many years. A good number of ambitious projects have been started, and in part completed, under the military Government, including the rehabilitation and resettling of nomads who had lost their flocks during the 1974-5 Deba-Dhere drought. These destitute former herdsmen have been settled in farming and fishing co-operatives between the two perennial rivers of south-western Somalia. Other projects include the north-south tarmac highway, built with Chinese technical help, which connects the two main regions of the Somali Republic and thus has both economic and political roles to play. Other projects undertaken by the Barre regime, though less successful, have instilled a co-operative spirit and a work-ethic that had been woefully lacking in the Somalia of the 1960s. The germ of this new spirit is most discernable in the numerous revolutionary youth centres that have been established in recent years.I recall having been very moved by one of the songs sun by orphan girls who had known no other home but such a centre, and no other parent but the state:It is a time of pleasant suprisesWhen one journeys from a place of drought and desolationto one of plenty and prosperityThere was a timeWhen I did not know my lineageNow I have a father in [President] Siyaad.A mother in the October RevolutionThe flag is my uncle,The land my grandfather,The soil my grandmotherPresident Mohamed Siad Barre changed the "Whom do you know?" question in to the "What do you know?" which aimed at strengthening the sense of unity and non-tribal identification.David Laitin writes: “His first task was to eliminate what he called ‘tribalism’, but which might be better be described as clan solidarity. An intricate clan system pervades the Somali social structure, and this had been the basis of party formation, political recruitment, and coalition-building in modern Somalia. Past attempts to rid the country of tribalism in the civilian period met with failure. The inevitable first question that Somalis asked of one another they met was, ‘What is your clan?’. When this was considered anathema to the purpose of a modern state, Somalis began to ask in a true musug masag fashion, ‘What is your ex-clan?’. Mohamed Siad Barre outlawed this question with a vengeance. Informers reported those who asked the clan identification question, and they were jailed. Further, and more important, Mohamed Siad’s first cabinet was clearly chosen on merit and not by ascriptive critera. The military has also stopped inter-clan warfare in the bush, and has coerced the nomads their disputed to the central Government. On a more symbolic level, and independently arriving at a Parsonian insight, Mohamed Siad has also repeated a number of times, ‘Whom do you know? Is changed to: What do you know?’, and this incantation has become part of a popular street song” [7].An interesting practice of the late President was that he would often mention his salary in his public speeches and frequently publish letters from Western Banks who wanted to persuade him in opening private banks in case he was overthrown.What went wrong?:Many people have forwarded this question without receiving a satisfactory reply despite the fact that the chain events of the Somali History sufficiently provide an answer for this question.In 1977, The Somali National Army and the WSLF (Western Somali Liberation Front), went to war in an aim to dislodge the Somali Region from the colonial Ethiopian power. Upon capturing up to 90% of its territory, the Soviets intervened by switching allegiance from Somalia to Ethiopia which lead to the mass-expulsion of the Soviets from Somalia soil. After Ethiopia received an enormous help in military hardware (totaling over 1 billion dollars) and foreign troops from the Soviets and its allies (Cuba), the coalition started launching a massive attack that pushed the Somali National Army back to the Somali borders. Even though this was a staggering defeat, the spirit of the Somali people remained roused.A group of a clan-based militia with a lust for power where the current interim president of Somalia (Abdulahi Yusuf) was part of, decided to stage a coup at a time where the country was at its crossroads with the loss of the Somali Region. Even though they had failed to successfully perform the coup, it was fiercely condemned by the Somali population and was portrayed as an attempt to take advantage at a time of national crisis. Prominent Somali poets rushed to their pens and started devising poems rebuking this clan-based coup.Some of the culprits behind the failed coup were charged with treason and subsequently executed, as witnessed by the Mogadishu residents whilst others fled to Addis Abba, Ethiopia, thereby creating a clan-based rebel group named SSDF with Abdulahi Yusuf as its head. This was an attempt to over-throw the current regime and reverse the situation of Somalia to the days of neo-colonialism where all the political power was concentrated to a small clan.In 1982, the rebel group SSDF supported by a 10,000 strong Ethiopian force aided by tanks, artillery and jet fighter aircraft invaded Somalia and briefly captured the Somali border towns of Galdogob and Balanbale with the aim to drive inland to the towns of Galkayo and Beledweyn. Somali inhabitants of these border towns were ruthlessly massacred. Consequently, a national emergency was declared by President Mohamed Siad Barre and the Somali National Army, aided by jet fighter aircrafts were sent there to dislodge the Somali towns from the grip of the Ethiopian invasion force. Simultaneously, large rallies were held by the Somali population to condemn this treachery invasion.[8] Even though, the rebel group with its Ethiopian allies were pushed back, the move opened eyes to the slightest disgruntled Somali individual that with the help of foreign power, he will have the ability to over-throw the current national regime.In the early 1980’s, the narcotic plant (khat) was banned and Mohamed Siad’s Finance Minister, Abdulahi Ahmed Addow, closed down the Berbera trade which at that time enjoyed a tax-free exportation, on what he claimed were fiscal grounds. This lead to the rise of the clan-based SNM rebel group who by showing their dissatisfaction with this move by the Finance Minister, decided to start taking arms against the Somali government.[9] In accordance with the first clan-based rebel group, they started asking for Ethiopian help. Ethiopia, satisfied by this started arming and training them. President Mohamed Siad Barre started issuing calls for them to come to the tables and leave the refuge of the Ethiopian government whose solely aim was to destabilize Somalia. The rebel groups rejected this plea and started conducting hit-and-run tactics on civilian and military positions in a bid to destabilize Somalia.The rebel groups decided to wage propaganda wars to lure more clan kinsmen to their groups and bring the outlawed tribalism back to its stages of inception. In 1986, the President was injured in a car accident where he was immediately flown to Saudi Arabia and remained in a coma for several months. During this brief incident, Somalia’s stability started deteriorating and the rebel groups took advantage of this crisis by issuing false statements that the President had died.After the President returned to his country, he was advised to take it easy and only permit his presidential duties to public appearances and minor duties. He spent most of the time-sleeping whilst his vice-president Mohamed Ali Samatar assumed power in his absence.By 1986, the SSDF was already dissolved, as there was a disagreement with the rebel group and the Ethiopian Army about whether the Somali border towns of Balanballe and Galdogob belonged to Ethiopia or Somalia. The head of the rebel group was jailed and its members decided to join the Somali government as a bid to provide reconciliation. It was a move welcomed by the President as he started calling other rebel groups to come to the table and talk.By 1988, President Mohamed Siad engaged in a peace treaty with Ethiopia whereby both countries would cease support for insurgent groups seeking to overthrow the respective governments in Ethiopia and Somalia. The SNM rebel group were homeless and decided to launch a full-scale attack on the northern cities Hargeisa and Burao which lead to the exodus of thousands of Somali civilians to the neighbouring Ethiopia. After they captured the two towns, they decided to engage in a retaliatory attack whereby they started executing members belonging to the family group of the late President. The Somali National Army retaliated by shelling the cities after receiving a direct order from the Vice President, Mohamed Ali Samatar. On the aftermath, where the shelling of both the SNM and Somali National Army ceased on the city, 5,000 Somalis perished and the city was re-captured by the Somali National Army. Saddened by this, the president urged the rebel groups to lay down arms and come to the peace tables as violence is not the answer to peace. Unfortunately, these calls fell deaf on ears as more clan-based rebel groups started emerging.By 1990, the USC which was a major clan-based rebel group, advanced towards the capital of Somalia bringing mayhem and destruction. The city was shelled from the outskirts by the USC, a mass-exodus was ignited and hundreds of thousands of Somalis fled. Foreigners were evacuated as stores and public buildings were looted. Militias consisted of drug-crazed youngsters emerged as they started targeting the fleeing civilians. Mohamed Siad Barre, speaking from the presidential palace made numerous proposals for a cease-fire, including an offer to resign but the USC rejected them all. He was forced to leave the city he once built. [10]Now, 17-years-later after the departure of the last Somali leader, Somalia has witnessed the holocaust of over 1 million Somalis perpetrated by warlords, the destruction of Somali’s cities, mass-looting, and the invention of roadblocks, anarchy, mass-rapes, and wide-spread ignorance. Over 14 unsuccessful peace-conferences were staged and tribalism that the late Mohamed Siad Barre sought to eradicate was at its peak.Yet, 17-years-later, some Somalis still blame this man who modernized and built the then modern State of Somalia. The Golden Age of Somalia flourished under his rule. The same man who educated Somalis and put it on the world map. The same man who for the first time united the people as a nation. The former Ethiopian ruler Mengistu Haile Mariam, who was President Mohamed Siad Barre’s contemporary, committed hideous atrocities and genocide, yet after his disposal, Ethiopia, a nation with a population exceeding 70 million people and more than 70 ethnic-groups managed to reconcile after his departure. Why? Because the Ethiopian coup was justified as Mengistu Haile Mariam was someone that was rightfully despised by all Ethiopians collectively for his human-right injustices.Yet, President Mohamed Siad Barre who has been falsely accused by the rebel groups for massacres that he did not commit proves that the rebel-groups were looking for a false pretext to overthrow him. Yes, he committed mistakes as he admitted in his last interview, with the wording: "I am only a human, which unfortunately was my mistake. The English have a saying when you perform little, you make a few mistakes, when you do not perform at all, you make no mistakes."[11]And rightly he was, the amount of accomplishments that he achieved for Somalia was due his hard-working nature whereby it led to committing a few mistakes. If the rebel groups had the people at heart, they would have accepted his proposal of resignation and to cease destruction and genocide. But by lust for power, they arrogantly rejected his call and remained determined on the destruction of Somalia.How is it possible that the rebel groups and warlords can accuse the late president for hideous atrocities whilst they have committed far worse atrocities that amounted to a full-fledged holocaust?The SNM during its brief capture of the Northern cities until 1991 bombed, and strafed villages in Awdal and the neighbouring regions. Entire non-SNM clans were targeted by this rebel groups which led to the massacre of thousands of peaceful Somalis who had nothing with the conflict. The USC were responsible for the man-made famine in the Bay and Bakool regions where over 500,000 Somalis perished. Over 100,000 Somalis died during the inter-USC conflict between Ali Mahdi and Mohamed Aidid, not to mention the ethnic cleansing that was put into effect by the USC leader after the late President left the capital city.The chaos and holocaust that followed after President Mohamed Siad Barre’s departure is testament to the fact he was the one who saved the country from the neo-colonialist era and that he was the one who held the country together. Now, 17-years-later, most Somalis are finally realizing the importance of his rule and are desperately longing for his return. This makes him the most wrongfully vilified person in the Somali History.Warsame101Warsame101@gmail.comReferences:[1] Revolutionary Change in Somalia, David Laitin, 1977[2] Ibid[3] The Pastoral democracy: a study of pastoralism and politics among the Northern Somali of the Horn, Ioan Myrddin Lewis[4] Mohamed Ismail[5] Mohamed Siad Barre, My Country and My People, Vol. 1 (Mogadishu, 1970)[6] Speech in a meeting in Mogadishu of the OAU heads of state, 1974[7] Revolutionary Change in Somalia, David Laitin, 1977[8] The Times, 1982[9] Somalia, 1986[10] Reader's Digest News, 31 December, 1991[11] His last interview - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oilgkZqstBg

fbi minneapolis press-release two-minnesota women convicted of providing material support to al-shabaab

 http://www.fbi.gov/minneapolis/press-releases/2011/two-minnesota-women-convicted-of-providing-material-support-to-al-shabaab

Army: Kenya force going for Somali town of Kismayo

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — An army spokesman says Kenyan troops will push forward to the insurgent stronghold of Kismayo and will stay in Somalia until there are no Islamist insurgents left.Thursday's statement by Kenyan military spokesman Maj. Emmanuel Chirchir was the clearest statement yet of Kenya's intentions after it sent troops into Somalia last weekend. Kenya said it was retaliating for a series of raids by Somali gunmen who have abducted foreigners from Kenyan territory.Kismayo is the stronghold of Somalia's Islamist insurgency. Taxes from its port are its chief revenue stream after the insurgents were pushed from the capital in August.Chirchir said Kenyan troops took control of the southern town of Ras Kamboni on Thursday after al-Shabab retreated.  more.. Kenya advances towards Somali city of Kismayo

Al-Shabab Loses Last Mogadishu District. Terror Free Somalia Exclusive Pictures From FRONTLINE

 Somali government forces are in control of Daynile, the last part of the Somali capital that was controlled by al-Shabab militants.A local journalist confirmed the takeover to VOA Thursday. Somali government troops and African Union forces attacked the district in northern Mogadishu at dawn and seized control of the area after brief but heavy fighting.Al-Shabab once controlled nearly all of Mogadishu but pulled most of its fighters from the city in August, after a government and AU offensive.Meanwhile, Kenyan forces continue to advance across southern Somalia in an effort to hunt down members of the Somali insurgent group.Kenyan army spokesman Emmanuel Chirchir says Kenyan troops have taken control of Ras Kamboni, a town on the Somali coast, and are closing in on Kismayo, an important base for al-Shabab.Kenya blames the al-Qaida-linked group for the kidnapping of several foreigners in Kenyan territory -- an allegation al-Shabab denies. On Thursday, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki said his country would use "all measures necessary" to ensure Kenyan peace and stability, saying the military operation was meant to protect Kenyan sovereignty.The Kenyan army said Wednesday that it has killed at least 73 militants since launching the incursion a few days ago.A Kenyan security minister said the government will also conduct a sweep to catch suspected al-Shabab and al-Qaida sympathizers in Nairobi. voa

Terror Free Somalia Exclusive Pictures From FRONTLINE
pictures of death shabaab jihadist in dayniile today

female doctor from somali Army medic

Dayniile District

somali military in action

Al-Qaeda linked shabaab Terrorist Cowards On The Run


Military Operation 'Jubaland  update Army: Kenya force going for Somali town of Kismayo

Libya's Gaddafi caught hiding like a "rat (Muammar Gaddafi has been killed, says Libyan PM )

SIRTE, Libya (Reuters) - Muammar Gaddafi called the rebels who rose up against his 42-years of one-man rule "rats," but in the end it was he who was captured cowering in a drainage pipe full of rubbish and filth."He called us rats, but look where we found him," said Ahmed Al Sahati, a 27-year-old government fighter, standing next to two stinking drainage pipes under a six-lane highway.Government fighters, video evidence and the scenes of sheer carnage nearby told the story of the dictator's final hours.Shortly before dawn prayers on Thursday, Gaddafi surrounded by a few dozen loyal bodyguards and accompanied by the head of his now non-existent army Abu Bakr Younis Jabr broke out of the two-month siege of Sirte and made a break for the west.
But they did not get far.NATO said its aircraft struck military vehicles belonging to pro-Gaddafi forces near Sirte at about 8:30 a.m. (0630 GMT) on Thursday, but the alliance said it was unsure whether the strikes had killed Gaddafi.Fifteen pick-up trucks mounted with heavy machine guns lay burned out, smashed and smoldering next to an electricity sub station some 20 meters from the main road, about two miles west of Sirte.They had clearly been hit by a force far beyond anything the motley army the former rebels have assembled during eight months of revolt to overthrow the once feared leader.But there was no bomb crater, indicating the strike may have been carried out by a helicopter gunship, or had been strafed by a fighter jet.Inside the trucks still in their seats sat the charred skeletal remains of drivers and passengers killed instantly by the strike. Other bodies lay mutilated and contorted strewn in the grass. Some 50 bodies in all.Gaddafi himself and a handful of his men escaped death and appeared to have ran through a stand of trees toward the main road and hid in the two drainage pipes.But a group of government fighters were on their tail."At first we fired at them with anti-aircraft guns, but it was no use," said Salem Bakeer, while being feted by his comrades near the road. "Then we went in on foot."One of Gaddafi's men came out waving his rifle in the air and shouting surrender, but as soon as he saw my face he started shooting at me," he told Reuters."Then I think Gaddafi must have told them to stop. 'My master is here, my master is here', he said, 'Muammar Gaddafi is here and he is wounded'," said Bakeer."We went in and brought Gaddafi out. He was saying 'what's wrong? What's wrong? What's going on?'. Then we took him and put him in the car," Bakeer said.At the time of capture, Gaddafi was already wounded with gunshots to his leg and to his back, Bakeer said.Other government fighters who said they took part in Gaddafi's capture, separately confirmed Bakeer's version of events, though one said the man who ruled Libya for 42 years was shot and wounded at the last minute by one of his own men."One of Muammar Gaddafi's guards shot him in the chest," said Omran Jouma Shawan.Army chief Jabr was also captured alive, Bakeer said. NTC officials later announced he was dead.Fallen electricity cables partially covered the entrance to the pipes and the bodies of three men, apparently Gaddafi bodyguards lay at the entrance to one end, one in shorts probably due to a bandaged wound on his leg.Four more bodies lay at the other end of the pipes. All black men, one had his brains blown out, another man had been decapitated, his dreadlocked head lying beside his torso.Joyous government fighters fired their weapons in the air, shouted "Allahu Akbar" and posed for pictures. Others wrote graffiti on the concrete parapets of the highway."Gaddafi was captured here," said one simply.From there Gaddafi was taken to the nearby city of Sirte where he and his dwindling band of die-hard supporters had made a last stand under a rain of missile and artillery fire in a desperate two-month siege.Video footage showed Gaddafi, dazed and wounded, but still clearly alive and gesturing with his hands as he was dragged from a pick-up truck by a crowd of angry jostling group of government soldiers who hit him and pulled his hair.He then appeared to fall to the ground and was enveloped by the crowd. NTC officials later announced Gaddafi had died of his wounds after capture.

Muammar Gaddafi has been killed, says Libyan PM

Somali, Kenyan forces eye rebel bastion, 66-year-old wheelchair-bound Marie Dedieu hostage Dies Al-Qaeda-linkedal Al-Shabab Terrorist Hands. Another cowardly act of terrorism

Kidnapped French woman died in Somalia, officials say
A French woman kidnapped from Kenya by suspected Somali militants has died, French foreign ministry announced on Wednesday.The 66-year-old Marie Dedieu was taken October 1 from her beachfront home at a Kenyan resort island and taken to neighbouring Somalia. French officials said they were told of Marie Dedieu’s death by contacts through whom they has been negotiating her release.French foreign ministry said it could not to determine the date or the circumstances of her death.Ms Dedieu was a wheelchair-user and had to take regular medication, but the kidnappers did not take her wheelchair or medication with them.In a statement, the French foreign ministry said expressed its “indignation at the total lack of humanity and the cruelty shown by the kidnappers of our compatriot and demanded that those responsible be brought to justice.
update on Kenya sends troops to attack Al Qaeda linked Al-Shabaab , Hits Back At Rebels After Kidnappings , Al-Shabaab pulls out of Afmadow, Lower Juba
(Reuters) - Kenyan and Somali forces were poised to close in on Islamist rebels in their southern Somali strongholds as Paris announced that a Frenchwoman, whose kidnapping spurred Kenya's cross-border incursion, had died. Kenya's military stormed across the border on Sunday to support Somali government troops in a risky attempt to secure the frontier and its hinterland. The operation follows a wave of kidnappings by suspected militants that have threatened the East African country's multi-million dollar tourism industry.A Kenyan military spokesman said Kenyan and Somali government troops had killed 73 rebels during fighting, but al Shabaab denied it had suffered any casualties."We killed the 73 rebels during our artillery bombardment operations and so far the military has secured three towns... no casualties were reported on the Kenyan side," military spokesman Emmanuel Chirchir told Reuters in Nairobi, though he admitted heavy rains were hampering troops from advancing.A senior Somali commander said the operation's aim was to rid Kismayu, a port city that serves as al Shabaab's nerve center for operations, of the militants.

"We are determined to cleanse al Shabaab from Kismayu and then from all of Somalia," General Yusuf Hussein Dumaal, head of government troops in southern Somalia, told Reuters by phone from Taabto village on Wednesday."We hope it will not take us a week to capture Lower Juba region particularly Kismayu," he said.Kismayu is about 120 km (75 miles) to the southeast of Afmadow, where the rebels have been fortifying their defenses, digging tunnels and pouring in battle wagons mounted with heavy machineguns to try and stop the advancing troops.Residents said al Shabaab had detained 22 civilians, including six women, whom the group accused of collaborating with Kenyan and Somali forces."There is so much fear. We are even afraid of calling relatives. Al Shabaab listens to whatever call you make because they have access to the phone company operators," local elder Ali Adow told Reuters from Afmadow.If Somali and Kenyan troops were to seize Kismayu, it would be a major blow to the al Qaeda-linked rebels for whom the city is an important operations base, and the port a major source of revenue from illegally trafficked goods.

FRENCH HOSTAGE DIES

This cowardly act of terrorism once again demonstrates al-Shabaab's complete disregard for human life

 

Al Shabaab said Kenyan troops were in the towns of Taabto, Qoqani and near the border town of Elwaq. Residents said they saw Kenyan tanks alongside Somali troops in the Gedo region, near Busaar, about 40 km (25 miles) deeper inside Somalia.But al Shabaab said there had been no face-to-face combat between the militants and Kenyan forces."We deserted those Somali towns after Kenyan planes bombarded our area, they killed animals and civilians. We have not killed any Kenyans in the fighting. They have also not killed or injured a single fighter of ours," al Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab said."We shall retake our towns. We shall launch a fierce attack on them. We shall destroy their tanks and troops," he told reporters earlier in Lafole near Mogadishu.The campaign, dubbed Operation 'Linda Nchi' - Swahili for "Protect the Nation' is a major escalation by Kenya that risks dragging it deeper into Somalia's two-decade-old civil war, but a spate of kidnappings of Westerners by gunmen thought to be linked to al Shabaab left it little choice but to strike back.

The Frenchwoman, 66-year-old wheelchair-bound Marie Dedieu was seized from the island of Manda on Kenya's northern coast on October 1. Gunmen whisked her on a speedboat to Somalia.

French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero confirmed Dedieu's death and demanded her body be handed to authorities."France is shocked at the total absence of humanity and the cruelty that the kidnappers have shown with regard to our compatriot, and we want them to be identified and face justice," Valero said, adding that Paris could not confirm the date or cause of death.Paris updated its travel advisory, warning anyone who goes to the northern frontier and east of Kenya, Somalia and its periphery or near there "is risking their life and freedom."Another British woman and two Spanish female aid workers were kidnapped in the past few weeks, abductions for which al Shabaab denies responsibility and which it says Kenya is using as a pretext to launch their attack.Security sources have said the British and French woman had been held in al Shabaab-controlled territory, highlighting the cooperation between the militants and criminal networks such as pirates who hijack vessels for ransom.

MORE BOMBS IN MOGADISHU

Al Shabaab has waged an insurgency since 2007 against the Western-backed government. Facing sustained pressure from government and African peacekeeping troops in Mogadishu, the rebels pulled out their fighters from the capital in August.But they retained control of large swathes of south and central Somalia and vowed to launch more attacks against government offices.On Wednesday, a remotely detonated bomb exploded near the seaport in Mogadishu, wounding six people, a day after a suicide bomber killed six people in the city.There have been no claims of responsibility for those relatively small-scale attacks. Al Shabaab launched its deadliest attack ever in Somalia when a suicide truck bomb killed more than 70 people earlier this month.

The African Union said it supported Kenya's operation.

Kenyan officials warned the instability in Somalia would reflect badly on the tourism industry, the third largest source of foreign exchange last year, earning the country 74 billion shillings ($740 million) last year."If we do nothing to attend to the security issue and also sensitize our main markets about the security situation then tourism is likely to go down," the finance ministry's Joseph Kinyua told Reuters, adding the military campaign would not put too much of a burden on Kenya's finances.Kenya spends less than 1 percent of its gross domestic product on military spending, which meant only operational and logistical funds were required for the campaign.Kenya has long looked nervously at its anarchic neighbor and its troops have made brief incursions in Somali territory in the past. This week's incursion on a larger scale could invite major reprisals, which al Shabaab have threatened.
Kenyan jets pound Shabaab positions
Kenyan Police Arrest Two Britons Believed To Have Links To Al Shabaab

Kenya Says Troops Advance in Somalia, May Push to Kismayo