Police calls on Somali community to help solve shooting

Minneapolis — Police were looking for at least two suspects on Thursday after three Somali men were shot to death the previous night at a corner grocery in south Minneapolis. Mayor R.T. Rybak and Police Chief Tim Dolan asked the Twin Cities Somali community to help them find those responsible for the shooting, who investigators believe are also Somali. "We have a challenge right now that this entire community needs to come together around, which is to bring every possible piece of information forward," Rybak said at a news conference. The names of the three men who were killed at Seward Market have not yet been released by authorities, but a family member has said two of the victims were Abdifatah and Mahad Warfa, who were related. "The victims were doing nothing but running a very, very good store," Dolan said. Investigators were still interviewing witnesses and had not yet released names or any other descriptions. "These individuals who committed this act are very, very dangerous," Dolan said, adding that police believe there is a danger to the Somali community. Neighbors and members of the Somali community were shocked and saddened by the incident on a typically quiet stretch of Franklin Avenue. It was the city's first triple homicide in nearly six years and the latest in a string of slayings among the city's Somali population. "It's a terrible tragedy," said Peter Fleck, a Seward neighborhood resident who runs an online forum.Fleck was walking in an alley behind the market at the time of the shooting and heard at least one shot. He said he walked around to the front of the store, saw the bodies and called 911. He also saw one person running away, but he couldn't see much. "It was dark. There was no way to see any details," Fleck said. Rybak and Dolan, who were both at the scene Wednesday night, had scheduled a news conference Thursday to talk about the city's low crime rate. The event instead focused on the shooting."We'll talk about trends another day. Today the entire community needs to talk," Rybak said. Police responded to Seward Market on East Franklin and 25th avenues just before 8 p.m. Wednesday on report of a robbery, but Dolan said he could not yet confirm the motive of the shooting or say whether a robbery took place. Several other people were in the store at the time. A woman at the scene, Shukri Farah, said she was buying some things at the market when she saw three men speaking Somali enter the store. According to local residents who translated, Farah said one of the workers suddenly grew shaky...more..http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/01/07/police-call-for-help-after-shooting/

Authorities should look deeper into
Possibility sectarian fighting Within Our Community  ..  if there's any connection

Al-Qaeda Somalia in US: Supporters Blamed For Ohio Arson
Sectarian Fighting Erupts in Central Somalia

Al-Qaeda Terrorist says CIA attack 'revenge' for drone killings

KABUL — Al-Qaeda hailed the suicide bombing that killed seven CIA agents in Afghanistan as "revenge" for the deaths of top militants in US drone strikes in Pakistan, Islamist websites said on Thursday.

A Jordanian doctor said to have been a triple agent blew himself up at a US military base in Khost near the Pakistani border on December 30, the deadliest attack against the CIA since 1983.The Afghan Taliban claimed responsibility a day later. A Pakistani Taliban commander subsequently claimed his faction carried out the attack to avenge the drone attacks that killed its founder, Baitullah Mehsud, last August.The head of Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, said the bomber wrote in his will that the attack was revenge for "our righteous martyrs" and named several top militants killed in drone attacks in Pakistan.Yazid described bomber Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi's mission as an "epic breakthrough" in penetrating both American and Jordanian intelligence, said Islamist websites.The slain militant masterminds named in the message included Mehsud, who was blamed for a wave of deadly attacks, notably the December 2007 killing of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.Also named was Abu Saleh al-Somali, described as part of Al-Qaeda's core leadership and responsible for plotting attacks in Europe and the United States. He was killed in a drone strike near the Afghan border last month...more...http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iDamlGwkbMGUR8z4VYR13Yxyvu5Q

'Time for a new Somalia policy'

FOCUS: OPINION  By Dr Afyare Abdi Elmi

In his testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on May 21, 2009, Admiral Michael Mullen, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, set a broad agenda for Afghanistan from which Senator Corker interpreted that Mullen was calling for "nation-building".Mullen was asked why the US was focusing on Afghanistan while al-Qaeda has spread its wings throughout the region, including Yemen and Somalia.Mullen responded that Afghanistan is critical because that is where it all began.

History of failure
Mullen's response played more to domestic political considerations on what the US public will support rather than strategic thinking about dealing with the problem at hand.The unanswered question is what Washington can and should do in order to reduce the threats stemming from other stateless countries such as Somalia?US policy toward Somalia has been a continual failure since 1978 when Zbigniew Brzezinski, the then US national security adviser, declared that the Cold War was being lost on the sands of the Ogaden desert when Soviet-supported troops were helping its ally Mengistu Haile Mariam, the president of Ethiopia, to defeat the Somali army that had captured the Ogaden region.During President Bill Clinton's era Operation Restore Hope was turned into the nightmare known today as Black Hawk Down.Under George W. Bush outsourcing the 'war on terror' to warlords to assassinate al-Qaeda operatives in Somalia backfired - forcing the Islamists to unite under the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), which brought order to the country but disorder to Washington's counter-terrorism tactics.The US also supported Somalia's warlords by providing money, information and legitimacy even though the Somali government had pleaded with Washington for help. ..more..
http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2010/01/2010169116862851.html

Government troops conduct search operations in Mogadishu

MOGADISHU (TF.SF)—Somali government soldiers have conducted search operations on Thursday in parts of the Somali capital Mogadishu, witnesses say.The government soldiers armed with armoured vehicles blocked two main streets in the capital early on Thursday in Hamar Jajab and Hamarweyne districts in Mogadishu.Residents say the government soldiers were checking mines in the streets of the two districts where it is suspected that the militants planted roadside bombs.The government soldiers have also conducted search operations in these two districts on Wednesday and arrested more teenagers who were accused of working with the Islamist rebels.“We could not go out of our homes, because some government soldiers refused us to go out,” said Jamal, a resident in Afisyoni neighbourhood in Mogadishu.

Some residents in the capital have expressed fear about war preparations that are going on in the capital.The Somali government announced plans to retake all the districts in Mogadishu from the Islamist rebels by force and the rebels are also preparing to defend any possible attacks.

Somalia's army chief escapes bomb attack

AFP – MOGADISHU — Somalia's military chief escaped a roadside bomb attack Thursday which killed at least one soldier in the war-torn capital Mogadishu, officials and witnesses said.
The bomb exploded as newly-appointed military chief Mohamed Gele Kahiye was riding in his vehicle in southern Mogasihu."The roadside bomb was targeting the Somali military commander but he escaped the attack. One of his security guards was killed," police spokesman Abdulahi Hasan Barise told a press conference.The attack was planned by the violent terrorists who were trying to assassinate the commander."

The Al Qaeda-inspired Shebab militants claimed responsibility.

"The attack was part of efforts to eliminate the apostate commanders," said a Shebab commander who did not want to be named."We got information indicating that the apostate government is planning an offensive against the holy warriors, but with the help of Allah we will destroy their intentions," he added.
A witness, Abdi Elmi, said several people were injured in the blast, adding that "the government forces opened fire in all directions after the explosion."The Shebab and its Hezb al-Islam allies have carried out scores of deadly attacks against the internationally-backed Somali transitional government and the African Union peacekeepers protecting it.

Somali Voice of America reporter let out of jail

The Voice of America broadcast service said Wednesday that a Somali stringer who had been jailed without charges since late December has been released.The VOA stringer, Mohamed Yasin Isahaq, had been held in the semiautonomous region of Puntland, the broadcaster said."Mr. Isahaq is an excellent journalist and we join his colleagues and his family in welcoming his release," Gwen Dillard, director of VOA's Africa Division, said in a statement from Washington.On Dec. 20, the Somali government's Puntland Intelligence Services surrounded Isahaq's house with armed vehicles and took him into custody, VOA said.His arrest came days after he reported a story for VOA on the plight of internally displaced Somalis in and around the southern part of Galkayo, Puntland.In November 2009, Isahaq suffered a minor chest injury after police in Galkayo shot at his car at a police checkpoint.The Committee to Protect Journalists has expressed concern about what it calls a "deteriorating situation" for journalists in Puntland and the rest of Somalia. CPJ's Africa Program coordinator Tom Rhodes has praised Isahaq as one of "the best journalists "working in the region.VOA's Somali service broadcasts 3 1/2 hours of radio programming daily, seven days a week, aimed at Somalia and the rest of the Horn of Africa region.The Voice of America, which first went on the air in 1942, is a multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. government through the Broadcasting Board of Governors.VOA broadcasts approximately 1,500 hours of news, information, educational, and cultural programming every week to an estimated worldwide audience of more than 125 million people. Programs are produced in 45 languages and are intended exclusively for audiences outside of the United States.http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9D2TVU00.htm

Ransom cash fuels boom in Little Mogadishu

That shopping centre,” said my Somali translator pointing to a garish multi-storey building clad in tinted glass, “was built with pirate money.” As we bumped along yet another traffic-clogged street that was more rubble than road the translator pointed out a series of half-built high-rise apartments, shopping malls and hotels.
“People talk of global recession, but here there’s no recession,” he laughed.
Above the banging and clattering of the construction boom the ear-piercing calls of the muezzins echoed. Beat-up buses disgorged the newest arrivals fresh from Somalia, and on Twelfth Street a row of wooden kiosks awaited the daily delivery of khat, a popular narcotic herb...more,,http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article6977516.ece

Somali clans vow to defend Kenya against Al-Shabaab

Somali clans living along the porous Kenya-Somalia border have vowed to defend the Kenya Government against any external threats posed by the Somali Islamist militia group, Al-Shabaab. Elders from the Absame clan, who addressed a press conference after a meeting in Garissa town, noted that the Somali people are indebted to defend the neighboring country, which hosts more than 300,000 Somali refugees in three camps in North Eastern Province. The meeting to deliberate on the threats to the country from Al-Shabaab follows another one held at the Garissa Government Guest House in November last year, following the capturing of Dobley town, which is very close to Kenya’s Libio border town, by the dread Islamist group.The chairman of the Absame clan Sheikh Khalif Gure said the Al-Shabaab threats to attack Kenya were unwarranted, saying the country was the only one in Africa that provided refuge to Somali nationals fleeing their war-torn country.friendly neighbourSheikh Gure said: "As the clans sharing border with Kenya, we will not allow any criminal by any name, to use our territory to sneak into our friendly neighbour to commit acts of terrorism."The leader praised the Government for its tireless efforts to ensure peace returns to Somalia.
Flanked by Sheikh Abdikhadir Ahmed, who is the chairman of the committee to protect Wamo region neighboring North-Eastern region of Kenya, Gure said they fully support the Transitional Federal Government.The leader said the lower Juba area of Somali bordering Kenya was considering seceding from the larger Somalia and declaring an autonomous federal state like Puntland.

Q+A-Somali-Yemeni militant ties in the spotlight

Jan 6 (Reuters) - The rise of al Qaeda's Yemen-based branch as a global security priority after a failed Dec. 25 attack on a U.S. airliner has stirred concern about its ties to like-minded militants in nearby Somalia.

Here are questions and answers about links between al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and Somalia's al Shabaab, an al Qaeda-inspired insurgency in the Horn of Africa failed state.

WHY WORRY NOW
On Jan. 1, an al Shabaab official, Sheikh Mukhtar Robow Abuu Mansuur, said the group was ready to send reinforcements to AQAP should the United States attack its bases in Yemen.The United States is stepping up security cooperation with Yemen following the Dec. 25 incident, involving a Nigerian who is reported to have said the plot was hatched in Yemen.Robow caused concern because al Shabaab is an effective force that has seized large areas of south and central Somalia. Its successes, like those of AQAP, have helped to inspire a small but enthusiastic global community of al Qaeda supporters.
Getting to Yemen is unlikely to be difficult.
While an international anti-piracy flotilla patrols the Gulf of Aden, hundreds of dhows carrying contraband shuttle between the two countries undetected every week, and Somalia's pirates continue to roam the seas and seize vessels for ransom.Regional concerns increased on Jan. 2 when Somali defence minister Sheikh Yusuf Mohammad Siad accused AQAP of sending two boat loads of weaponry to al Shabaab fighters in the rebel-held southern port of Kismayu in recent days.While Yemen has for years been an important source of arms for Somalia, the trade is normally operated by well-established arms brokers and shippers, not by militants themselves.

SO IS THE LINK-UP RHETORICAL, OR REAL?
For propaganda purposes the groups have tended to proclaim more of a relationship than really exists in practice. But the Dec 25. incident shows AQAP has ambitions beyond its immediate region. And while there are tensions over cultural and language differences between Arabs and Somalis in al Shabaab, to date the demands of the insurgency have overriden these.Senior AQAP leader Qasim al-Raymi has fought in Somalia and has written extensively on the need to back Somalia's revolt. He was one of a 23-strong group of al Qaeda militants who escaped from prison in Yemen in 2006 and went on to form AQAP. Some others in that founding group had also fought in Somalia.Security experts say Yemenis make up a sizeable part of a foreign contingent that fights with al Shabaab's Somali rank and file and supplies bomb-making and communications expertise.By one estimate there are about 500 or more foreigners in Shabaab's ranks, which experts say may number 5,000 or more.

WHO ELSE IS SHUTTLING BETWEEN YEMEN AND SOMALIA?

Militants do not figure heavily in the traffic across the Gulf of Aden. For now, that remains dominated by organised crime -- arms traders and people and drug smugglers backed by powerful local and regional vested interests.There is also illicit trade in fuel, cement and food to remote natural ports in Somalia via routes that are adjusted rapidly to respond to new markets or government countermeasures.Regional experts say there have been sporadic reports of Somali fighters in Yemen. But they speculate that some of these may be Saudi Arabia-bound illegal immigrants press-ganged by Yemeni groups into fighting on their side.Some observers say it is unlikely AQAP would take up Robow's offer in any substantial way, unless it was truly desperate.AQAP has other resources, they argue. Its close links to al Qaeda's Arab-dominated leadership in south Asia suggests it would be able to obtain more recruits and financing than other al Qaeda affiliates could expect in similar circumstances.


IS ROBOW'S OFFER SINCERE?

At least two interpretations of Robow's offer are circulating among Somalia watchers.One is that it genuinely reflects the settled intention of al Shabaab to prepare to send a number of fighters to Yemen to help AQAP in the event of attacks by the United States.Another is that it is a unilateral attempt by Robow, seen by many as one of the more nationalist of al Shabaab's top men, to ingratiate himself with hardline colleagues in the leadership after he was sidelined in a falling out over policy.According to one proponent of this second view, there have been strains inside al Shabaab over its core aims: Some in the movement wish to pursue a largely domestic agenda to grab power and transform the country into an Islamic state.Robow has been identified with this view, which experts say is shared by the rank and file. He is using the Yemen issue in a tactical bid to shore up his position, experts say.In opposition to the nationalist trend are voices calling for al Shabaab to participate fully in al Qaeda's global quest by extending the movement's reach beyond Somalia's borders. This line is heavily promoted by al Shabaab's foreign brigade. (Reporting by William Maclean, Editing by Ralph Boulton) Q+A-Somali-Yemeni militant ties in the spotlight‎ http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE6050T6.htm

Report: Homegrown terror suspects in US mostly young men who plan violence overseas

A new study on homegrown terror found that most American Muslims who planned violent attacks in since 2001 were young, male U.S. citizens who became radical as part of a group.Still, researchers seeking lessons on preventing extremism found no definitive pattern of how the suspects turned to violence and no geographic center of radicalization in the U.S.Experts from Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill tallied homegrown terror cases since the Sept. 11 attacks and found 139 American Muslims had been publicly accused of planning or carrying out violence motivated by extremism.

All but one of the suspects were male and most were under age 30. Most were U.S.-born, naturalized citizens or legal residents of the country. Although Arabs formed the largest group of suspects, the accused were almost evenly divided in terms of ethnicity, including African-Americans, South Asians, Somalis and whites. About a third were converts to Islam.Funded by the National Institute of Justice, a division of the U.S. Justice Department, researchers sought to learn why American Muslims seem less prone to extremism than Muslims in Western Europe, where radicals preach openly and children and grandchildren of Muslim immigrants often feel as alienated from broader society as their parents did...more..http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-us-homegrown-terror,0,7299239.story

Denmark's Somali Community: Breeding Ground for Extremists?

Denmark's small Somali community, which numbers about 16,000, has struggled for years to integrate more fully into a society that has grown more antagonistic toward immigrants like them. Then came the news that a man with an ax and knife allegedly burst into the home of Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard on Jan. 1 and threatened to kill him. Danish Somalis were aghast when authorities said the intruder was one of their own. "The Somalis in Denmark are shocked at what happened and strongly condemn it. They see it as the work of one man and don't understand how he could do a thing like that — someone who grew up in Denmark," says Abdirashid N. Artan, a social worker and chairman of the Somali Youth & Development Network, an organization that works with troubled young Somalis in Copenhagen, the Danish capital.But authorities and experts warn that Somali refugees living in Denmark, as well as elsewhere in Scandinavia, are more and more being drawn to radical Islamic groups because of their difficulties in starting a new life in their adopted country and the increasingly xenophobic tone of right-wing politicians, like those from the Danish People's Party. The Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET) says the 28-year-old who allegedly broke into Westergaard's home, identified by Kenyan police as Mohammed Muhideen Gelle, had close links to the Somali militant group al-Shabab, which controls large parts of southern Somalia and has been listed as a terrorist group by the U.S. State Department. PET also says he is "suspected of having been involved in terror-related activities" during a recent stay in eastern Africa. Gelle was arrested by police in Kenya last August, prior to a Kenya visit by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and held for seven weeks on suspicions of having ties to terrorist groups. He was later released because of a lack of evidence and deported to Denmark, where he's lived since he was a teenager. The incident at Westergaard's home came two months after another young Danish-Somali man detonated a suicide bomb at a graduation ceremony in Mogadishu, killing 24 people, including four ministers. According to news reports, the man had spent 20 years in Denmark before returning to Somalia — and may also have been involved with al-Shabab. (The group has denied responsibility for the attack.) But Somalia's Environment Minister, Buri Hamza, told Danish television last month that he believed the man was first drawn to extremists in Denmark. "We're afraid that this Danish-Somali has been brainwashed right here in Denmark," Hamza told the TV2 channel.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1951906,00.html#ixzz0bt5t8xPL

What is the global reach of Somalia's rebels?

Renewed fears over the Somali Al-Shabab Terrorist links with Al Qaeda Yemen and an attack on the home of a Danish cartoonist attempted murder‎ by an axe-wielding man with reported ties to the insurgents have turned a spotlight on the Islamist group. Here are some questions and answers about the Al-Shabaab Terrorist hardline guerrillas and their international reach:WHY DO WE CARE NOW?Western security agencies have long said that Somalia is a safe haven for foreign militants plotting attacks across the region and beyond. But until recently, the focus has mostly been on preventing Somalis abroad becoming radicalised then returning to join the rebels and fight the United Nations (UN)-backed government.There have been several cases of this, including, reportedly, the suicide bombers who Targeting Graduating Doctors TF.SF Exclusive ceremony in Mogadishu on December 3, and last September at the heart of the African Union's (AU) main military base in the capital.Somali officials said that the bomber who killed 22 people, including three government ministers, at the graduation was a 26-year-old Danish citizen of Somali descent. One of the AU base bombers Terrorist Cumar Maxamed Maxamuud was reportedly American from Seattle, while about 20 young men are also said to have disappeared from Minneapolis's Minnesota large Somali community in the last two years to join al Shabaab.Experts say that such individuals are more willing and motivated than native Somalis A to stage suicide attacks - perhaps because of their experiences of living in the West and the problems that this may have caused them in terms of their own identity.But al Shabaab's external reach has been highlighted after Friday's attack on cartoonist Kurt Westergaard in Copenhagen - as well as its pledge to support Yemeni insurgents linked to al Qaeda who are believed to be behind the foiled Christmas Day terror plot bombing of a commercial airliner over Detroit airport
WHAT IS AL SHABAAB'S RECORD?
The rebels have threatened in the past to launch attacks in neighbouring Kenya and Ethiopia, as well in Uganda and Burundi, which both sent troops for the African Union's (AU's) peacekeeping mission AMISOM.But they have so far failed to follow through. Experts believe some al Shabaab Terrorist Financiers have large amounts of funds in real estate in Nairobi - meaning that they would not want to see any attacks that put their investment at risk. Some analysts suggest the absence of any strikes in Kampala or Bujumbura suggests that much of the rebels' rhetoric maybe just that.That has not stopped concerns being stoked further afield, however. Last August, police in Australia said they had foiled a suicide attack on an army base there by four men with al Shabaab links in that country's biggest terrorism case.Then Danish police said the 28-year-old who broke into Westergaard's house had links to al-shabaab Terrorist and al Qaeda and that the attempted killing was "terror related".The group's ties to Yemen have also come under close scrutiny given Washington's renewed security focus on the Arab world's poorest nation following the foiled December 25 attack.Regional analysts say that there has long been a degree of cooperation between people-trafficking gangs and other organised criminals on both sides of the Gulf of Aden, but that the extent of any other links remains unclear.On Saturday, Somalia's defence minister told Reuters that al Qaeda insurgents in Yemen had sent two boat loads of weaponry to al Shabaab fighters in the rebel-held southern port of Kismayu in recent days, but gave few other details.
WHAT IS AL SHABAAB SAYING?
Veteran al Shabaab commanders declined to speak to Reuters on the record about the group's global connections, but a senior rebel official who agreed to talk on condition of anonymity said they received help from many individuals in Islamic nations who supported their struggle to impose sharia law across Somalia.The official said jihadists from across the Muslim world had joined them, including high profile al Qaeda suspects like Fazul Abdullah Mohammed,Al Qaeda Leader in East Africa indicted for his alleged role in the 1998 Kenya and Tanzania US embassy bombings that killed 240 people.Asked about a report that Fazul, a Comorian in his late 30s with a $5-million reward on his head, was now leading the group, the official said he would not answer because he was protecting his fellow mujahideen from the Western nations hunting him.Most Somalis said they believed Terrorist Abdi Godane also named Sheik Mokhtar Abu-Zubeyr aka Mukhtaar C/raxmaan remained al Shabaab's leader. He has not been seen in public for months, but sends audio recordings to local media. He is believed to be in close contact with the senior foreign members of al Shabaab.No one knows for sure, but experts say a reasonable estimate of al Shabaab's total manpower is no more than 5 000, with perhaps 500-plus foreigners. A regional analyst said Yemenis made up a significant portion of the foreign element.Other foreigners in al Shabaab's ranks reportedly include white Americans and Canada's Europeans, Kenyans, Sudanese, Indian Ocean islanders, Pakistanis and Algerians. Al-Shabab Terrorist says they will attack Israel

What is the global reach of Somalia's rebels?‎

U.S. Extends Reevaluation of Security Threats to Yemen and Somalia

President Obama's senior national security team reviews counterterrorism policies at the White House in response to the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a passenger jet near Detroit, 5 January 2010
President Barack Obama acknowledged Tuesday that the United States has stepped up the fight against al-Qaida in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and has also begun focusing on other countries, including Yemen and Somalia.

President Obama's senior national security team reviews counterterrorism policies at the White House in response to the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a passenger jet near Detroit, 5 January 2010

President Obama tells the American public that U.S. intelligence apparatus must do better than its failure to stop a 23-year-old Nigerian from flying to the United States with concealed chemical explosives and attempting to blow up a passenger plane.Somali-born geography professor Abdi Samatar of the University of Minnesota says that the intensification of fighting in Afghanistan and Pakistan and the Christmas Day airline bombing attempt by Nigerian-born Umar Abdulmutallab have helped shift the focus of conflict to al-Qaida in the Arabian peninsula, particularly to Yemen. But he notes that reports of recent arms shipments from Yemeni rebels to Somalia’s Islamist al-Shabab fighters have so far had little impact on the rebel insurgency against Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG).

Government (TFG).

CIA

“I don’t think that the amount of weapons that are going from Yemen through al-Qaida to al-Shabab is significant. Shabab has many other sources of weapons, both in the domestic market, and, remember, Somalia has one of the largest small weapons markets in Mogadishu itself,” he said.

Despite al-Shabab
claims of sending fighters to help al-Qaida resist Yemeni and foreign-assisted efforts to quash its insurgency, Professor Samatar says a Somali presence in Yemen is limited to longtime refugees who have lived in northern Yemen for decades, but not a significant infusion of terrorists or resistance fighters.“Containing refugees and others in particular localities I don’t think is going to be a significant element in tackling the terror matter,” he noted.As for Yemenis operating in Somalia, Samatar says the security threat is also low. But he does acknowledge that the stepped up fighting in Afghanistan and Pakistan have expanded the arena of doing battle with al-Qaida back to the Gulf region, where it was extremely active ten years ago.“The military pressures in Pakistan and Afghanistan are having a significant effect on al-Qaida’s ability to further decentralize itself so that they cannot be holed in one particular locality. And this is a fact that should be taken into account in both Somalia and in Yemen,” he observed.Does this mean a more intensified struggle in Somalia at this point? Samatar says not as far as expecting an infusion of fighters from Yemen to add to Somalia’s woes. He says al-Shabab continues to lead insurgents’ attempts to bring down the internationally endorsed TFG.

APIslamist al-Shabab fighters conduct military exercise in northern Mogadishu's Suqaholaha neighborhood, 01 Jan 2010 al-shabaab Terrorist radical Islamic group . This year's Terrorist Parade

I think Shabab controls much of southern Somalia at the present, and in the last week or so, they have had military celebrations in Mogadishu itself, to show the caliber of their troops and the size of their troops. So they are already what they are, and they control what’s left of Somalia….small strips in south Mogadishu and a few other pockets. And I just don’t think further pressures are going to make any difference in those spots because those are where the African Union forces are, and I don’t think al-Shabab will have the wherewithal to confront them head-on,” he said.

Al-Shabab insurgents control much of southern Somalia, including the city of Kismayo.

The answer to U.S. and British efforts to bring greater stability to both Somalia and Yemen can be found in new initiatives to democratize both countries rather than focusing on the anti-terror threat, according to Professor Samatar. He warns that stepped up foreign military involvement can foment resentment among local populations in both countries, which have long been discontent with the authoritarian qualities of their own failed states’ leaderships.“I think the Somali people would welcome a very genuine support from the United (States) government to help themselves rebuild their country. I think the project that the United States helped take part in in Djibouti, which ultimately produced the Transitional Federal Government was both illegitimate and incompetent. And so what the Somali people are looking for is support from Britain and the United States people and governments that are genuinely democratic, that will support civil society, and Islamic movement that is also democratic,” he maintains.Samatar asserts that Yemeni and Somali resentment are stirred up against western interference when it is being engineered to serve outside interests.“Genuine democratization of the political process in Somalia, pushing the Transitional Federal Government into becoming more inclusive, more accountable, more effective, and bringing on board people with capacity who are Somalis who can deliver for the local population, if the U.S. and Britain push things in that direction, the Somali people will genuinely welcome that, in my opinion,” he noted.. source.http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/africa/somalia-yemen-security-threat1-6-10-80766722.html

Yemen arrests al Qaeda suspects

A military push against al Qaeda in Yemen has yielded three more arrests, according to security sources in the country.

Those detained are said to be low-ranking members of the Islamist group and had been wounded in a raid that killed at least two militants...READ FULL ARTICLE

UN suspends food aid to southern Somalia

Nairobi, Kenya
While WFP will continue to deliver aid in parts of Somalia that are not under the control of Al Shabab, reaching up to 1.8 million people, the pull out of food relief is almost certain to have profound effects on the Somali population.Nearly 2.2 million Somalis receive food aid every month, and nearly 71 percent of the Somali population suffer from under-nourishment, according to UN reports.After years of drought and war, local farmers are simply unable to meet the need without outside assistance. Fighting for control of the country has already displaced 1.55 million Somalis from their homes but within Somalia, and hunger is likely to send Somalis on the move again, perhaps joining the millions of others have been forced from their country altogether, into Kenya, Ethiopia, Yemen, and beyond.
What is Al Shabab?
Al Shabab is an offshoot of Islamists who ruled Somalia for six months, from July to Dec. 2006, before being ousted by US-backed Ethiopian troops. Radicals from the Islamic Courts Union government reformed their forces and began a war of attrition with Ethiopia. By the time the Ethiopians retreated, with the formation of a broadly based transitional Somali government, Al Shabab had taken over vast swaths of the south, and much of the nation’s capital, Mogadishu remains under Shabab control...more..http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2010/0106/UN-suspends-food-aid-to-southern-Somalia

Gunman kills legislator in Somalia's Puntland

BOSASSO, Somalia, Jan 5 (Reuters) - An unidentified gunman killed a member of the local parliament Puntland’on Tuesday, witnesses said, the latest political murder to rock Somalia's semi-autonomous northern region.Witness Hussein Osman said legislator Abdullahi Ali was gunned down by a man armed with a pistol outside a mosque in Bosasso port."I saw the man stand beside the MP, then the MP fell down as he was shot. We ran away from the scene. Now the police are there and we can hear deafening gunfire, but we don't know who is fighting the police," he told Reuters by telephone.Puntland has been relatively stable compared with the rest of Somalia. But violence and insecurity have risen in recent months and the region is also a major base for pirates who have been causing havoc to shipping off the Horn of Africa.
Experts say Puntland is also home to organised criminals, including money counterfeiters and human traffickers. In November, unidentified gunmen shot dead a judge who had jailed pirates and members of a hardline rebel group. A local member of parliament was killed in a separate attack. [ID:nLC012147] (Writing by Abdi Sheikh; editing by Daniel Wallis, Tim Pearce)

The Danish-Cartoonist Attack: Sign of a Wider Plot?

A week after the so-called Underwear Bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, exposed intelligence failures in the U.S. when he tried to blow up a Detroit-bound plane, Kenya and Denmark are trying to explain a similar gaffe that may have far more fearsome implications.
In Copenhagen on Friday, Jan. 1, a Somali man identified by Kenyan police as Mohammed Muhideen Gelle allegedly tried to stab a Danish cartoonist who drew one of the 12 cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that sparked a furor in the Muslim world in 2005. Kenyan police and intelligence sources have revealed that they arrested him last year on terrorism suspicions and then deported him to Denmark, where he has residency. (See the top cartoons of 2009.)
Both cases exposed intelligence problems, but while the bombing attempt on the Detroit plane was believed to be the work of one misguided youth who may or may not have had links to al-Qaeda, analysts fear that the alleged attack on the Danish cartoonist may signal a wider plot by radical Islamists in Somalia to take their fight abroad.
The al-Shabab militia in Somalia, which is suspected to have ties to al-Qaeda, would not say whether it was involved in the plot to kill the cartoonist, Kurt Westergaard. But Sheik Muktar Robow, a spokesman for the group, did say that Gelle, who was shot by Danish police during his arrest, was a "hero to all Muslims." "We are very sad that the mission failed," Robow tells TIME. "Everyone describes him as a brave man, and as a group, al-Shabab prays for him to recover quickly from his injuries." (Read a brief history of al-Shabab.)
Even though al-Shabab has not claimed responsibility for the attack, the Danish Security and Intelligence Service has said Gelle had "close relations to the Somali terror organization al-Shabab and leaders of al-Qaeda in East Africa." Al-Shabab has also made repeated, impassioned proclamations that it wants to carry its fight to the rest of eastern Africa and beyond, possibly to the West. And while its resources are not believed to be extensive, it has shown recent signs of increasing sophistication, like using suicide bombs and improvised explosive devices.
"It's quite clear that al-Shabab has international ambitions," says E.J. Hogendoorn, a Nairobi-based Horn of Africa analyst for the International Crisis Group. "It has an international agenda in that it sees itself in part as relating to the larger Muslim population. So when they can get away with a high-profile attack that they think will generate support, I think they will do so. The question is whether they have the capacity to do so." (See pictures of Muslims in America.)
If this is indeed the case, then the attack on the Danish cartoonist, which may or may not have been part of the group's plans, raises the question of whether the Kenyan police have the capacity to stop potential Somali attackers from entering their country and possibly continuing on to other nations.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1951710,00.html#ixzz0bn4N1NT8

CNN's Natalie Allen talks with Omar Jamal of the Somali Mission to the U.N. about the growing extremist trouble.

http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2010/01/02/allen.bpr.jamal.somali.crisis.cnn?iref=allsearch

Al Shabaab says they will not accept the Somali flag

MOGADISHU (TF.SF)—Muktar Robow Abu Mansor, a former spokesman and a prominent member of al shabaab said Monday they will not accept the Somali blue flag to be erected in the country. Speaking to clan elders in the Somali capital Mogadishu, Robow said the only flag which they accept will be the black flag that is known to their group.

Central town, death toll increases, Al Shabaab terrorest left their dead bodies in the streets of Dhusamareb.

Some clan elders attended a workshop organized by al Shabaab in Mogadishu and the Shabaab officials told the elders to practice the Islamic Sharia. Many Somali people are against how al Shabaab interpreted the Islamic Sharia. Separately, residents in Jowhar town about 90 km north of Mogadishu say they saw hundreds of al Shabaab fighters armed with heavy machineguns and about 50 battle wagons heading to central regions of Somalia. The move comes as al Shabaab was routed in heavy fighting that took place in Dhusamareb town in central Somalia. The bodies of more al Shabaab fighters were displayed in Dhusamareb by Ahlu Sunna Walajamaca fighters.

Central town, death toll increases, Al Shabaab terrorest left their dead bodies in the streets of Dhusamareb.

M010

Fighters from Ahlu Waljamaca AKA SUFI

DHUSAMAREB (TF.SF)—Calm has returned to Dhusamareb, the provincial capital of Galgaduud region in central Somalia, witnesses and officials said on Sunday.

Fighters from Ahlu Waljamaca have fully retaken the control of the town from al Shbaab Militants who attacked the town yesterday.

Ahlu Sunna has imposed a curfew on the town last night. The spokesman of Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca, Sheikh Aba Yusuf Al qadi, said their forces were still chasing the al Shabaab fighters to south of Dhusamreb and added that they will not return back until they reach their base.



On the hand, the death toll of the fighting has increased. At least 40 people including civilians and combatants were killed in the fighting.

Residents say al shabaab has beheaded two men in the town when they seized yesterday. Locals say Al Shabaab also left their dead bodies in the streets of Dhusamareb.

More civilians fled from the town and have not returned back yet, but the business centers have been reopened and the situation has returned to normalcy. central Somalia fightingSomalis Welcome Defeat of al-Shabaab Islamists

al-shabaab got their asses kicked every year on January,

Do you remember this 1/13/09 death shabaab Terrorist

Jamaican Muslim Cleric to Be Deported

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGf2X0TqqWU&feature=player_embedded
Nairobi — Cabinet minister Otieno Kajwang' on Sunday signed a deportation order for Jamaican Islamic cleric Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal.The sheikh was arrested by the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit in Mombasa. The cleric, who entered Kenya through the Lunga Lunga border point from Tanzania, is to be deported to Jamaica this week. Al-Faisal was deported from Britain after serving a five-year jail sentence on terror-related charges.Mr Kajwang', who is in charge of Immigration, said that Sheikh al-Faisal is on an international watch-list of terrorists and would not have been allowed into the country had he entered through Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Moi International Airport or any other entry point linked to the e-border control system.

Denied entry

The cleric has previously been denied entry into Kenya. Before his arrival in Kenya, he had travelled to Nigeria, Angola, Mozambique, Swaziland, Malawi, and Tanzania. He was arrested minutes after attending evening prayers at a Nyali mosque."I have already signed his deportation letter and he will be deported back to his country at the earliest opportunity. The information we have is that he was arrested in Britain and jailed five years ago on terrorism-related charges. We are not deporting him because he is a Muslim," Mr Kajwang' said.He went on: "We are deporting him because of his terrorist history and the fact that he is on the international watch-list. We have no charges against him, but he took advantage of the situation at Lunga Lunga border to enter the country. He deliberately entered by road at a border point not linked to our computer system."The Immigration minister dismissed allegations by the Muslim Human Rights Forum that Muslim clerics were being targeted. He said he had signed many work permits for Muslim clerics from Sudan and Libya who are in the country.The cleric's passport shows he tried to enter the country previously but was denied entry. Al-Faisal was deported from Britain in 2007 where he had lived for 20 years for allegedly preaching "hatred against Jews, Hindus and Westerners". He had been jailed in 2003 for the offence.Born Trevor William Forrest, Al-Faisal, who is from St James in Jamaica, left the island for the UK 26 years ago. His parents were Salvation Army officers and he was raised as a Christian, but when he was aged 16, he went to Saudi Arabia, where he became a Muslim and spent eight years studying Islam at Madina University.Later, he took a degree in Islamic Studies in the Saudi capital of Riyadh before going to the UK. The Muslim Human Rights Forum said that Al-Faisal's arrest was discriminatory since preachers of other faiths are granted similar visitors' visa. "This is curtailing Sheikh al-Faisal's freedoms of expression and association in a very discriminative manner and holding him incommunicado, which is totally unacceptable," said the group's chairman Al-Amin Kimathi.The controversial cleric had by Sunday been flown to Nairobi for further interrogation by the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit. The detectives picked him up at Port Police Station and moved him under tight security to Mombasa's Moi International Airport where he boarded an evening flight to Nairobi.

Coast provincial police boss Leo Nyongesa confirmed that the cleric was taken to the Anti-Terrorism Police headquarters for further interrogation. Nominated MP Sheikh Mohammed Dor said in Mombasa that Muslims will on Monday go to court to oppose the deportation.Sunday Nation

RCMP says it helped in tip about Obama attack‎, Terrorism plot threatened Obama inauguration: report

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ABC Online

RCMP says it helped in tip about Obama attack‎

A bomb was to explode as Barack Obama took the oath of office. (Reuters: Chuck Kennedy/Pool)

Barack Obama was inaugurated as US president last year under the shadow of a credible terrorist plot to attack the ceremony, The New York Times reported.The threat proved a false alarm, but the incoming administration took it so seriously that contingency plans were drawn up in case the incoming government and president were killed, the Times said.Mr Obama was inaugurated January 20, 2009, on the steps of the Capitol building in Washington.According to intelligence officials, a group of Somalis was believed to be crossing from Canada to explode a bomb as Obama took the oath, an event watched by more than a million people in the centre of Washington and millions more on television worldwide."All the data points suggested there was a real threat evolving quickly that had an overseas component," Juan Carlos Zarate, a national security adviser for terrorism, said.Out of precaution, the White House selected defence secretary Robert Gates as successor to the leadership in a worst case scenario.Mr Gates was reportedly sent to a secret location during the inauguration.Mr Obama's counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan told the Times that as the inauguration drew nearer, the plot "seemed to be growing in credibility and relevance".Mr Brennan said he suspected a "poison pen" threat in which militants revealed information to harm rival groups.
The Times quoted officials saying the plot was declared a false alarm 72 hours after it was announced.
-AFP http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/01/05/2785585.htm?section=justin

Fanatic convert to terrorism spent year in Toronto

Omar Hammami, known as Abu Mansour "al-Amriki," is seen in a YouTube video.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CBfItZrngE&feature=player_embedded

One of the most visible leaders of an Al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist militia in Somalia spent a year in Toronto ingratiating himself into the Somali immigrant community as a convert to Islam.

Omar Hammami – known to followers as Abu Mansour "Al-Amriki" (the American) – ate at Somali restaurants and prayed in Somali mosques. He married a Toronto woman of Somali origin and had a daughter with her.hen, after

learning Somali ways, he left to join the Horn of Africa's top terror group, Al-Shabab, to wage Islamic jihad and recruit other foreign nationals to the cause, say former friends and relatives speaking publicly of the terrorist's Toronto connections for the first time.

"He betrayed us," says a former friend who worked with Hammami at a Weston Rd. pizzeria. "For a man to be saying that, Islamically, it is okay to be killing innocent people – and yesterday you fed him bread and welcomed him into your houses – it kind of shatters you."..more..

Fanatics' return to city feared‎

Missing Somali Case Continues In 2010

Listen to the Story

4 min 26 sec Download Over the last few years, nearly two dozen young men from a Somali community in Minneapolis have ended up in an Islamic militia in Somalia called al-Shabab. In the U.S., a dozen people have been arrested so far. Guest host Mary Louise Kelly speaks with NPR's counterterrorism correspondent Dina Temple-Raston about what 2010 is likely to bring for one of the biggest

terrorism investigations the FBI has launched since Sept. 11.
MARY LOUISE KELLY, host:
We're going to check in now on a case we first started reporting on over a year ago, the disappearance of more than two dozen young Somali-Americans from the Minneapolis area.As it turns out, the young men were recruited to join the ranks of a Somali Islamic militia called al-Shabab. Al-Shabab is fighting the transitional government in Somalia right now. It's on the State Department's list of terrorist organizations, and it's thought to have links to al-Qaida.In response, the FBI launched what has become the biggest domestic terrorism investigation in the U.S. since the 9/11 attacks.NPR's counterterrorism correspondent, Dina Temple-Raston, is here to talk about it.
Hi, Dina.
DINA TEMPLE-RASTON: Hi there.
KELLY: So, Dina, remind us how this case actually started.
TEMPLE-RASTON: Well, essentially, it all started back in 2007, when there were some young men in the Somali community in Minneapolis who were getting together to talk about politics and the recent Ethiopian invasion of Somalia.
And that invasion whipped up a lot of nationalist feelings in the Somali community in Minneapolis. And allegedly that fall, there was a meeting in a local mosque in which some of the young men in the community called someone in Somalia, and essentially, they offered up their services to this group al-Shabab, which at the time was fighting Ethiopian troops.
Apparently, this al-Shabab guy on the phone in Somalia said, we need you guys here, and these guys started to think about how they could make that happen.
KELLY: Okay. And so, that would be when these young Somali-Americans here in the U.S. started to disappear.
TEMPLE-RASTON: Yes, a short time after that. But the case really didn't get the FBI's attention until about a year later. In October of 2008, there was a suicide bombing against a U.N. compound in Puntland, which is a region in northeastern Somalia, and there was a DNA test done on the bomber. And it turned out that it was a young Minneapolis Somali-American named Shirwa Ahmed. And that's when the case went from local law enforcement to the FBI. And the FBI was worried that it had a jihadi pipeline on its hands, essentially like an underground railroad of sorts that recruits people for jihad.
KELLY: So, how was the recruitment effort organized? How did they actually persuade these young men to go over?
TEMPLE-RASTON: Well, what they've uncovered is there was some sort of intricate and kind of informal network of people in the Somali community here in the U.S. And apparently, they not only encouraged the young Somalis to travel to Somalia and fight, but they actually helped them pay for it, and they arranged for people to take them to the airport and to meet them in Somalia and to help them get into al-Shabab camps there.
And, you know, this is 20 kids, which is a lot of kids to go and funnel towards Somalia. And the concern that the FBI has is that the situation will morph into one in which the kids come back and decide to launch some sort of terrorist attack here.
Now, the FBI hasn't uncovered anything like that, but of course, that's what worries them.
KELLY: And we're talking about more than 20 young men involved. That adds up to a very big case for the FBI.
TEMPLE-RASTON: Yeah, that's 20 young men who just went to Somalia, which is a remarkable number for a terrorism case in this country. And there's been sort of a drip, drip effect in terms of arrests. I mean, so far, 14 people have been charged with material support to a terrorist organization, essentially helping these 20 kids get to Somalia.
There are four people in custody in the U.S., and there is someone in custody in the Netherlands, and the FBI is working on his extradition. And I expect he'll be here in this country pretty soon this year.
KELLY: And the latest charges that the FBI filed were just in November. Are they anywhere near to actually wrapping up this case?
TEMPLE-RASTON: Well, there are lots more arrests expected in 2010...more..http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122198546

New U.S. Air Traveller Screening Focuses on 14 Nations

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Air travellers from Nigeria, Yemen, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and nine other countries will face full-body pat downs before boarding airliners under new security screening procedures targeting foreign passengers announced by the United States on Sunday.The procedures, which go into effect on Monday, follow the botched Christmas Day bombing attempt on a Detroit-bound U.S. airliner blamed on a Nigerian man who U.S. officials believe was trained by al Qaeda in Yemen.
Passengers travelling from or through nations listed as "state sponsors of terrorism" -- Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria -- as well as Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen will face heightened screening, an Obama administration official said.
Nearly all of those are Muslim countries.
Such passengers will be patted down, have their carry-on luggage searched and could undergo advanced explosive detection or imaging scans, according to the official, who spoke on condition on anonymity.
The Transportation Security Administration, the U.S. agency responsible for air security measures, announced the "enhanced screening" procedures, adding that any passengers on U.S.-bound flights could be subjected to random security searches.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian, was arrested by U.S. authorities after being accused of carrying a bomb sewn into his underwear onto a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on December 25. He got through security screening in Amsterdam, and was subdued by passengers and crew after trying to blow up the plane.U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday it appeared Abdulmutallab was a member of al Qaeda and had been trained and equipped by the Islamic militant network in Yemen.
RISING CRITICISM
The announcement of the new security steps comes amid rising criticism by U.S. Republicans and others that American diplomatic and intelligence officials failed to prevent the December 25 incident despite having evidence about Abdulmutallab.U.S. intelligence officials have said they believe that al Qaeda leaders are hiding out in Pakistan after being chased from Afghanistan during the war that began in 2001 in the weeks after the group's September 11 attacks on the United States. Most of the men who carried out the September 11 hijackings of U.S. airliners were Saudi-born.Yemen also is emerging as a major area of al Qaeda activity, according to security experts.The new rules apply to anyone with a passport from any of the 14 countries, and anyone stopping in those countries, the administration official said.The Transportation Security Administration said it issued security directives to all U.S. and international airlines with inbound flights to the United States that would include random screening of passengers. This random screening policy applies to any airport in the world for flights coming to the United States, the official said."Because effective aviation security must begin beyond our borders, and as a result of extraordinary cooperation from our global aviation partners, TSA is mandating that every individual flying into the U.S. from anywhere in the world travelling from or through nations that are state sponsors of terrorism or other countries of interest will be required to go through enhanced screening," the agency said in the statement."The directive also increases the use of enhanced screening technologies and mandates threat-based and random screening for passengers on U.S.-bound international flights," it added.
NEW RULES AGREEABLE TO AIRLINES
All passengers are screened electronically for weapons and bombs regardless, and the new rules that include random enhancements appear more agreeable to airlines, which chaffed at broad requirements imposed after the December 25 incident.Carriers complained about widespread delays and other passenger inconveniences, especially in Canada and Europe.However, airlines will not be able to assess the full impact of the new regime on their operations for a few days.Last week, airlines told Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano that the system could not manage efficiently under a 100 percent pat-down mandate over the long term. Any changes to that routine would be welcome."Our goal remains to improve security and reduce the hassle factor for passengers," the International Air Transport Association, the lead trade group for international airlines, said in a statement to Reuters.There were 25 million visitors to the United States in 2008 from Europe and Asia, according to IATA figures...more..http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2010/01/03/world/international-uk-security-airline-usa.html

Puntland’s scapegoating games , blackmailing the international community

The pirates and smugglers’ enclave Puntland an autonomous region in Northeastern Somalia has been known to host pirate and smuggling groups. It’s not a secret, smugglers operate openly in Bossasso, Eil, Bareda, Xafun, Qandala, Calula and many other coastal towns of Bari and Nugal regions of Puntland. The authorities in Puntland are fully aware the activities of the pirates and smugglers. The international community has time and again been skeptical about the role and the involvement of the police and coastal security forces in the hijackings. Adding to the fuel, many question this week’s police raid in the towns of Elayo and Qaw, an abandoned coastal towns with populations less than one thousand. Why not Eil (the pirate kingdom,) or Bareda just 20 km to east of Bossasso? Or even Bossasso smugglers’ market?

Puntland authorities claimed the capture of 9 pirates and 3 smugglers. According to the chief of Punland’s police forces, Osman Hassan Awke,”the arrest was made in the towns of Elayo and Qaw.” Notwithstanding the chief called the operation a success, the BBC interviewer, Ahmed Kismayo, challenged him, ” why not other areas?” The chief stumbled on this question and simply responded, “that is the kind of capability we have for now.” In addition, the chief said, “150 people ready to board on one of the boats were left behind to fend for themselves or else go back where they came from.”

More than 200 vessels have been hijacked from the waters of the Red Sea and Indian Ocean surrounding Puntland, and even the international waters as far as places closer to Yemen and Oman. Smugglers load their ill-equipped boats from ports not far from the commercial hab city of Puntland, Bossasso, the largest metropolitan coastal city in Puntland. This week alone the pirates hijacked three ships from the international waters.

Piracy is a lucrative business in Puntland and already mansions and expensive Landcruisers bought with the ransoms are part of the economic boom! even in the major cities of Puntland. Pirates and smugglers make their fortune; wed beautiful wives; and mostly settle in major urban cities such as Garowe, Galkayo, Qardho, and Bossasso. In fact, government officials admit that there are some good pirates and smugglers neighboring them as ordinary citizens.
tf.sf investigative reporters