Kenya and Somali TFG Forces Raid al Shabaab in Southern Somalia

Kenyan troops have crossed into Somalia and have driven out al-Shabab fighters from two bases near the border in a joint operation with Somali soldiers, according to a Somali military commander.

• Kenya has said it will hunt the fighters they accuse of being behind several recent kidnappings of foreigners. 
• Abdi Yusuf, a senior Somali military commander, said on Sunday that fighter jets struck two al-Shabab bases in southern Somalia, but could not confirm if the aircraft belonged to Kenya. "There have been air strikes in al-Shabab bases near Afmadow late yesterday and today. 
• We are heading towards Afmadow now. Al-Shabab have already vacated the town," he said. 
• Alfred Mutua, the Kenyan government spokesman, said that its troops had entered southern Somalia to fight the al-Shabab, who it says are responsible for attacks on its territory. 
• In response, al-Shabab called on Somalis to rally and attack the Kenyan troops. "Kenya violated the territorial rights of Somalia by entering our holy land, but I assure you that they will return disappointed, God willing," 
• Sheikh Hassan Turki, a senior al-Shabab leader, said. "Mujahideen fighters will force them to test the pain of the bullets." Turki called on Somalis to stand united against "this blood-thirsty enemy that has crossed into our territories and the apostate Somali militants helping them". 

Several witnesses reported heavy troop movement in Kenya's border regions, with lorries full of soldiers heading towards the frontier. The assault came a day after George Saitoti, Kenya's interior security minister, branded al-Shabab "the enemy" and pledged to attack them "wherever they will be".

• In response to Kenya's deployment of forces in Somalia, Shabaab spokesman Ali Mohamud Rage warned that Shabaab would retaliate with suicide bombings in Kenya, saying "[R]emember what happened in Uganda's capital," a reference to the 2010 Shabaab suicide attacks in Kampala that killed 76 people, according to The Associated Press. 
• Kenya's decision to send troops into Somalia is interesting, as the Kenyan military has hitherto been cautious and largely stayed out of the fight in Somalia, with the exception of some border clashes with Shabaab. 
• If Kenyan forces are in Qooqaani, and are moving toward Afmadow, then they've moved about 40-50 miles inside Somali territory. 

It remains to be seen if the Kenyans are committed to taking the fight to the port city of Kismayo, Shabaab's stronghold in the south.

The Rest @ Longar Journal

AL Shabaab feeling The Pain of Refusing Aid Groups Access

As Somalia continues to suffer through the worst drought in decades, Arab nations have clearly failed to act quickly to assist drought-displaced people in the country, a high ranking Al Shabaab official charged Friday.

In a fleeting visit to internal refugee camps in Mogadishu, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys accused Arab states of neglecting and abandoning their Somali brothers and sisters as a severe drought claims many Somalis and their domestic animals.

Aweys, the former leader of the dismantled Hizbul Islam organization, made the comments as thousands of drought-displaced Somalis flood into the capital, Mogadishu, seeking food and water.

He said that Arab nations stopped sending humanitarian aid to Somalia after having a serious misunderstanding with the extremist group, although he didn’t provide any details about the nature of the misunderstanding.

“Everyone who intends to deliver humanitarian assistance is very welcome in the areas we control,” the official said to emphasize the group’s previous statement lifting the ban of aid agencies.

On Tuesday, Sheikh Ali Mohamoud Rage, the spokesman of the militant group, said anyone "whether Muslim or non-Muslim" can provide urgent assistance in the areas they control as long as they have “no hidden plan.”

The United Nations welcomed the move by Al Shabaab, but said it would need security guarantees for its staff.

"I welcome all efforts to ensure the people of Somalia can access the assistance which they have a right to," the UN humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, Mark Bowden, told the BBC.

Nonetheless, Aweys reiterated his call for Arab nations to extend charitable and humanitarian aid.

On Jan. 12, Aweys called for Somalia’s poor and needy not to seek assistance from humanitarian aid agencies.

The United States has accused Aweys of having links to al Qaeda. In April, the U.S. froze the assets of Aweys and others accused of being terrorists.


The Rest @ AllNesHeadlines

Shabaab Operating In Kenya, as their defeated foreign fighters Flee South

Note the names of al Shabaab Hit Squad entering Kenya.

-Shimron

*************

Police yesterday released the identities of nine suspected terrorists operating between Kenya and Somalia as al Shabaab announced it was considering carrying out attacks in Nairobi.

Police deputy spokesman Charles Owino Wahong'o said the nine had received military training by the militia group. He said police require the help of the public to arrest the suspects who have since gone into hiding.

Two of the suspects,

• David Kahuho Wangechi also known as Yusuf
• John Mwanzia Ngui otherwise known as Yahya are believed to have been responsible for the grenade attack on two traffic police officer on Thika Road in December last year.
  
  Other suspects were identified as
• Abbas Mwai
• Juma Daud Abdirahman
• Duda Brown
• Duda Black
• Hussein Mwai
• Osodo and Ibrahim Ruta who are said to be in Somalia.

Owino said anti-terrorism police were on high alert to make sure the country was not attacked following several threats by terrorists.

Addressing Muslim faithful at a mosque in the Somali capital Mogadishu, Muktar Robow Al Mansur, a key commander of the Islamist group yesterday said the Kenyan government has failed to respond to a call asking it not to interfere in Somali affairs.

Sheikh Mansur said their attempts to convince the Kenyan government have fallen on deaf ears and now warrants possible military retaliation. He accused the Kenyan government of harbouring Ethiopian troops and forces allied to the Somali government. Robow also accused the Kenyan government of arresting civilians and branding them as members of the group.

The latest threat comes barely a week after Al Shabaab spokeman, Sheikh Mohamoud Rage, issued a warning to Kenya that it "will pay the price for allowing Ethiopian and Somali government to use Kenyan soil as launch pad for attacks". The group has previously threatened Kenya for training Somali government forces.

While the past threats have been general, yesterday the group specifically mentioned Nairobi as a target of a possible attack. "Kenya has constantly disturbed us, and now it should face the consequences of allowing Ethiopian troops to attack us from Mandera," said Rage

In a rejoinder, the Department of Defense spokesman Bogita Ongeri, who spoke to the Star, rubbished the accusation and threats by al Shabaab. He said the Kenyan military has sealed the border with Somalia and the county was prepared to thwart any attempts to carry out attacks.

"Al Shabaab has been threatening us for no apparent reason. It is a balatant propaganda that we allowed in foreign troops. We have our own soldiers at the border, as we respect the sovereignty of other countries we will also wish the same to be accorded to us," said Ongeri.

The Rest @ AllAfrica

Al Shabaa Claims it will retake Mogadishu

Insurgent group al Shabaab has made a dramatic statement, one day after Somalian Prime Minister Mohammed Abdullahi Mohammed said the government, allied with the international community, has the ability to eliminate the threat posed by militants.

In a press conference in Mogadishu, Sheikh Ali Mohamoud Rage, the spokesman of the al Qaeda-inspired group, described the government’s comments as a "dream."

Rage said the fight is between al Shabaab and the transitional federal government of Somalia, which has international support. “The [United Nations Security Council] special meeting on Somalia in New York was a forum in which Somali government officials were begging for infidels,” Rage said.

He called on Somalis, already exhausted from civil war, to "get ready" for new combat with the Somali government, vowing al Shabaab will retake Mogadishu.

Rage also criticized local media, saying that they were spreading news about al Shabaab that was baseless and false. He called on the people to not believe the reports.

Al Shabaab’s statements come as the Somali prime minister stated in an interview with Voice of America that it is in the interest of the international community to help his government eliminate the threat posed by the insurgents. He warned that failure to do so will create a haven for terrorists, including al Qaeda, in Somalia.

The Rest @ AHN

AMISOM may do more than Peace keeping in Somalia

Al-Shabaab fighters have vowed to seize arms from AU peacekeepers in Mogadishu if their mandate id changed.

The spokesman of Al-Shabaab, Sheikh Ali Mohamud Raghe, said AU’s intention of changing the mandate of its peacekeeping mission in Somalia would be opposed.

The Transitional Federal Government (TFG) has requested the international community for help to repel the Islamist forces trying to overthrow it.

In response, the Inter-governmental Agency on Development (Igad) member countries namely Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Somalia have requested the AU to change the power and mandate of Amisom from peacekeepers to peacemakers.

If Igad’s request is endorsed by the AU and UN, the Amisom forces will not be limited to defensive capacity by also to fight the rebels in order to enforce peace.

This came as a possibility when the conflict in Somalia was made one of the main agenda items at AU Summit in Sirte, Libya, yesterday.

Reacting to the latest development, the spokesman of Al-Shabaab, said the new move would offer Islamist fighters an opportunity to seize weapons from Amisom.

“It is a chance for our mujahideen (holy warriors) to seize weapons from Amisom soldiers should they come out of their hideouts,” said Sheikh Ali Dhere.

“It will be a great chance for our fighters to test their fighting skills that will surely lead to the defeat of the foreign soldiers,” he added.

Sheikh Ali Dhere condemned the African leaders who met in Libya for discussing the agenda item he named as being against the Somali people.

“They are there to talk about how to harm the Somali people,” said Al-Shabaab spokesman.
The AU Summit, however, did not conclude a resolution allowing the Amisom peacekeepers to directly support the TFG.

The Rest @ The nation (Kenya)

Shabaab Sends Suicide Bomber to Wedding

Somalia’s Security Minister Is Killed by Suicide Bomb (Update3)

By Hamsa Omar

June 18 (Bloomberg) -- Somali Security Minister Omar Hashi Aden was among at least 50 people killed in a suicide-bombing that the al-Shabaab Islamist group, accused by the U.S. of backing al-Qaeda, said it carried out.

The attack happened at the Medina Hotel in central Somalia ahead of a wedding ceremony, Haji Mohamed Ibrahim, a clan elder in Beledweyne, said in a phone interview from the city. The blast killed 50 people and injured 100, al-Jazeera reported, without citing anyone.

“We killed many so-called government officers, including the so-called security minister,” Ali Mohamoud Rage, a spokesman for al-Shabaab, said in a teleconference today in the capital, Mogadishu. “As they were meeting in one of the hotels in Beledweyne, one of our holy martyrs exploded inside.”

Al-Qaeda has sent as many as 300 fighters to Somalia to support Islamists and warlords seeking to topple the government of President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s top political aide, Lynn Pascoe, told the Security Council last month.

The foreigners are training the al-Shabaab rebels and helping them mobilize funds and weapons, Nicolas Bwakira, the head of the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia, said on May 22.
Al-Shabaab has been accused by the U.S. of providing safe- haven and logistical support to al-Qaeda, which aims to establish a caliphate, or Islamic government, in Somalia.
Ambassador Killed

Among other people killed in today’s attack was Abdikarin Hussein Farah Laqanyo, the former ambassador to neighboring Ethiopia, said Abdulkadir Mohamed Osman, director of information in the Somali presidency.

• “We believe the attack was carried out by al-Qaeda and al- Shabaab,” Osman said by phone from the capital, Mogadishu.
• Ibrahim, the clan elder who visited the hotel after the incident, said at least 17 people had been reported killed, without saying where he got the information from.

“It was a horrific incident because they were gathering at Medina Hotel for a wedding ceremony,” he said. “Many people died on the scene.”

Somalia is in its 18th year of civil war and hasn’t had a functioning central administration since the ouster of Mohamed Siad Barre, the former dictator, in 1991.

Last night, at least 13 people were killed in northern Mogadishu when a stray mortar shell hit a mosque during evening prayers amid clashes between Islamist fighters and government forces.

Earlier in the day, at least 15 people died in fighting between the two sides in the south of the city.

To contact the reporter on this story: Hamsa Omar in Mogadishu via Johannesburg at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net. Last Updated: June 18, 2009 09:14 EDT

The Rest @ Bloomberg