You know, there is nothing about this story of a pair of suicide bombing attacks at a Somalia mosque that can keep me from smiling ear to ear. Today in Mogadishu, Somalia...two suicide bombs went off at a mosque where the top leader of the al Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab terror group was speaking to a bunch of supporters and when the dust and the smoke and the body parts settled, there were 40 dead al Shabaab jihadis. Nice huh? Well, it gets even better as you read here from the story at The Long War Journal:
It's actually hard to believe that there are any people left in the country of Somalia - I mean, seriously, is there a country on Earth that more resembles Hell? Hopefully, we'll get to see all the islamists kill each other off and when it's all over, someone will just come in and plow under the entire country and give it to Ethiopia.
While no group has claimed credit for the bombings, Hizbul Islam is suspected of carrying out the attack. Shabaab has been feuding with Hizbul Islam, a rival Islamist terror group that also seeks to overthrow the Somali government and impose Islamic rule in the country.So, here we have one al Qaeda group, Hizbul Islam, bombing the shit out of a rival al Qaeda group, al Shabaab - it's like having your birthday fall on the Fourth of July!
Hizbul Islam's top leader, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, has ties to al Qaeda. Aweys is wanted by the US for his links to al Qaeda. He is also on the United Nations terrorist sanctions list, again for his ties to al Qaeda. Aweys co-led the Islamic Courts in 2006 until the group was ousted from power during the Ethiopian invasion in December 2006.
Hizbul Islam, like Shabaab, has courted al Qaeda and mirrored its tactics. In September 2009, Aweys advocated for more suicide attacks in the country, just days after suicide bombers struck an African Union base in Mogadishu. In April 2010, a top Hizbul Islam spokesman said his group welcomes Osama bin Laden and other foreign fighters to come to Somalia and fight with his group.
It's actually hard to believe that there are any people left in the country of Somalia - I mean, seriously, is there a country on Earth that more resembles Hell? Hopefully, we'll get to see all the islamists kill each other off and when it's all over, someone will just come in and plow under the entire country and give it to Ethiopia.
Top Shabaab commander targeted in Mogadishu mosque bombings
Forty Shabaab fighters and supporters were killed in a pair of bombings today that targeted a top Shabaab military commander at a mosque in the Bakara market in Mogadishu.
The first bomb was detonated as Sheik Fuad Mohammed Khalaf, a top military commander of al Qaeda-linked Shabaab, was speaking to worshipers at the mosque in the terrorist stronghold in Mogadishu. The second blast took place shortly afterward as people attempted to escape the mosque, Shabelle reported. Shabaab fighters immediately surrounded the mosque after the blasts.
Khalaf, who is also known as Fuad Mohammed Shonghole, survived the blast but was reported wounded. Khalaf is a Swedish citizen who serves as a senior Shabaab field commander in Mogadishu. In a Shabaab propaganda video, Khalaf declared war on Ugandan peacekeepers serving in Mogadishu. Khalaf is also an imam, or prayer leader, for Shabaab.
Shabaab immediately issued a statement on the attack at the mosque. Sheikh Ali Mohammed Rage, the top Shabaab spokesman, claimed that "foreign companies" were responsible for the bombings and and that they were designed to kill as many Muslims as possible.
While no group has claimed credit for the bombings, Hizbul Islam is suspected of carrying out the attack. Shabaab has been feuding with Hizbul Islam, a rival Islamist terror group that also seeks to overthrow the Somali government and impose Islamic rule in the country.
Hizbul Islam's top leader, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, has ties to al Qaeda. Aweys is wanted by the US for his links to al Qaeda. He is also on the United Nations terrorist sanctions list, again for his ties to al Qaeda. Aweys co-led the Islamic Courts in 2006 until the group was ousted from power during the Ethiopian invasion in December 2006.
Hizbul Islam, like Shabaab, has courted al Qaeda and mirrored its tactics. In September 2009, Aweys advocated for more suicide attacks in the country, just days after suicide bombers struck an African Union base in Mogadishu. In April 2010, a top Hizbul Islam spokesman said his group welcomes Osama bin Laden and other foreign fighters to come to Somalia and fight with his group.
Hizbul Islam was created in January 2009 with the merger of four separate Islamic groups: Aweys’ Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia-Eritrea; the Ras Kamboni Brigade; Jabhatul Islamiya (the Islamic Front); and Anole. The Ras Kamboni Brigade defected from Hizbul Islam earlier this year and joined Shabaab, further strengthening the latter in southern Somalia.
Although Shabaab and Hizbul Islam sought to merge forces during the summer of 2009, the alliance was frayed by local disputes between factions of the two organizations. Relations between Shabaab and Hizbul Islam worsened after the groups began to battle in Kismayo over control of the southern port city.
Clashes between Shabaab and Hizbul Islam have persisted in southern Somalia, but Shabaab has had the upper hand. Despite the intra-Islamist fighting, the weak Transitional Federal Government, backed by thousands of African Union peacekeepers, controls only small enclaves within the capital of Mogadishu, and little else. A pro-government Sufi Islamist militia called Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jama’a controls some regions in central Somalia and often clashes with Shabaab and Hizbul Islam. Meanwhile, Shabaab continues to expand its control. This week, Shabaab took control of the pirate haven of Harardhere on the coast of central Somalia.
On multiple occasions this year, the Somali government has claimed it is preparing to retake Mogadishu, but it has yet to launch an offensive. Meanwhile, a top Shabaab leader has said that his group is ready to take control of the capital to preempt an expected surge of Somali troops who have been trained in Kenya.
But the capacity of the Somali military has recently been called into question after hundreds of Somali troops either defected to Shabaab or quit the force after the government failed to pay their $100 a month salary. The United States has donated $6.8 million over the past two years to train and pay Somali forces.
4 comments:
Tupac said, we don't die, we multiply. The reason I qoute the dead rapper is because this is exactly how islamist groups in Somalia work. They fight, a few die, double the dead sign up!
As long as there are young men signing up to fight, Shabaab will always have fighters willing to die fighting so some other imam can one day control the poor country.
I think the best war against shabaab is not by the gun. Guns kill people but you can't kill everyone. One must fight the idea that leads the young Somali men to give their 'little worth' lives to fight for shabaab. In other words, educate the young men and women in Somalia that it is better for them and for their future to have a country with law and order; one with stable government.
Until the next generation of Somalis understand that they can shape and mold their turf into a peaceful country by simply saying 'no' to picking up the gun, there will be no peace in the horn of Africa. And Islamists fighting Islamists is just another way to recruit more men! Trust me, if 40 or so died today, more than 100 more will be available today getting the pay checks of those who died today. Somalis don't die, they Multiply.
so then we have to kill them.... faster
I expanded on this thought on my blog.
Well informed Somali youth is the answer to Somali Crisis --sorry target _blank not allowed by comment field
Basically, killing them faster is not going to diminish the troop count of the Islamist groups,instead, it kills the uneducated young Somalis. The best thing to do is to educate the potential Shabab recruits so they turn away from joining them. Instead of training thousands of troups to fight for the goverment - something that might not work because they may even hit the road when they're done their training, or worse they may be fighting for the rebels - it is more productive to give the young Somalis jobs or to educate them and basically try to make them understand that no victory is achieved through war.
Somalia is in war nearly 20 years now, has anything changed? no. But if all the young men just stop fighting because they know better, because they understand their future depends on their actions, and because they know they're the recipe for their own struggle, then there would be no war, since there is no one to do the fighting. I hope I am making sense!
Somali Blogs and Sharku,
A good debate going here and Shark, as usual, I concur with you - this isn't an issue of young Somali men deciding to join up with al Shabaab or not - it's the book of islam, the Qu'ran, that calls for the domination of free men - it's a violent political ideology that demands submission to islam. Whether Somali men join al Shabaab, Hizbul Islam or travel to join Hezbollah or Hamas or any of the other hundreds of radical islamic terror groups - the idea of joining in Jihad is taught to these young men from day one in their mosques.
:Holger Danske
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