Al Qaeda Moves Deeper into Africa

No new news... Al Qaeda is increasingly moving their efforts South and West to their outposts in the Sahel (AQIM) Yemen and Somalia....

-Shimron


Terrorism experts say the world has every reason to be concerned about terrorism in 2011 and beyond. They say al-Qaida may be slowly dying in Afghanistan, but its tentacles around the world live on in very remote areas.

They also say frustration among the poor in the Middle East and Africa could lead to new ethnic and political conflicts. The turmoil, they say, could embolden al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb popularly known as AQIM in that region. Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb grew out of an Islamist insurgency movement in Algeria, merging with al-Qaida in 2006 and spreading through the Sahara and the Sahel region.

Ronald Noble, secretary-general of the police organization Interpol, has said those portions of Africa along with Somalia may become the next Afghanistan for al-Qaida.

Former CIA official and counter-terrorism expert Charles Allen says the recent turmoil in the Sahara and Sahel could further embolden al-Qaida, because it could see the unrest as a result of its own campaign.

"They have appealed continuously, whether it is in Yemen or in North Africa, that there are impoverished communities and then there are wealthy oligarchs who control the masses. This is a long standard ideological campaign that has been relatively effective," he said.He says al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb or AQIM, along with its affiliates in Yemen and Somalia, has been using this region as a breeding ground for its activities."It functions as an umbrella organization for a disparate collection of Sunni Muslim terrorist elements determined to attack what they see as apostate regimes in Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Mauritania and Morocco.

The bulk of AQIM forces are located in southern Algeria, northern Mali and Mauritania," he said.Morocco’s ambassador to Washington, Aziz Mekouar is more concerned about the Sahara region in particular because it is now being used by drug traffickers to smuggle drugs to Europe. He says AQIM is trying to take advantage of the situation.

• "We see these Colombian and Mexican drug traffickers using West Africa and the Sahara region to covey drugs to the European markets. That is very dangerous.
• You will see in the future a combination of al-Qaida, drug traffickers, and human traffickers," he said.
• He says the countries of the region should come together to stop this activity and prevent al-Qaida from exploiting the situation.
• Last year, Algeria, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger set up a joint headquarters in southern Algeria to coordinate anti-terrorism efforts.
• The four countries' army chiefs met to establish a joint strategy against al-Qaida.

Allen says the focus in 2011 should be to make it more difficult for the al-Qaida leaders to recruit the unemployed and frustrated youth. That, he says, will require cooperation on a global scale to push for political and social reforms and poverty reduction. It will also require, he says, a global effort to educate the younger generation what he calls the real Islam that he says teaches that killing one person means killing all of humanity.

the Rest @ VOA

US embassy bombed in Yemeni capital

The US embassy in Yemen was attackedby two cars, witnesses said [AFP]
At least 16 people have been killed in an attack on the US embassy in the Yemeni capital Sanaa by a suicide bomber and armed fighters, the country’s interior ministry has said.

• A suicide bomber on Wednesday morning drove a car close to the embassy before detonating his explosives, witnesses said, leaving part of the building on fire.
• Armed men then attacked the embassy from a second car, they said.
• Six guards, four civilians and six attackers died in the assault, the interior ministry said.
• A group called Islamic Jihad in Yemen has claimed responsibility for the attack and threatened to target the British, Emirati and Saudi embassies in Sanaa, reports say.
• From Safhaat - an Islamist Website
  

Islamic Jihad - Yemen: Statement about Sanaa Bombing

17 September 2008

"We, the organization of Islamic Jihad in Yemen declare our responsibility for the suicide attack on the American embassy in Sanaa,"

"We will carry out the rest of the series of attacks on the other embassies that were declared previously, until our demands are met by the Yemeni government."

(not to be confused with Islamic Jihad in several other places)

The Rest @ The Vancouver Sun

They have threatened attacks before that were carried out by

My Best Guess as to Next Embassy Targets, in order of priority

• Embassies in the Arabian Peninsula, in Countries other than Saudi Arabia
• Embassies in Mauritania (AQIM)
• Embassies in Turkey
• Embassies in Ivory Coast, Niger, Chad

September 17th Ambush at the Gates of the US Embassy in Yemen

16 dead in car bomb, ambush at US Embassy in Yemen

This is classic Al Qeda Tactics

-Shimron

By AHMED AL-HAJ – 1 hour ago

SAN'A, Yemen (AP) — Attackers armed with automatic weapons, rocket-propelled grenades and at least one suicide car bomb assaulted the U.S. Embassy in the Yemeni capital on Wednesday. Sixteen people were killed, including six assailants, officials said.

The U.S. said no Americans were hurt.

• Multiple explosions rang out outside the heavily-guarded facility, and gunfire raged for at least 10 minutes at the concrete checkpoints that ring the compound.
• The dead included six attackers, six Yemeni guards and four civilians, the state news agency SABA reported.
• Security officials said people lined up for visas were among those killed or wounded.
• It was the deadliest attack on a compound that has been targeted four times in recent years by bombings, mortars and shootings.

Yemen, the ancestral homeland of Osama bin Laden, has struggled to put down al-Qaida-linked Islamic militants, often to the frustration of U.S. counterterrorism officials.

Just last month, the State Department allowed the return of non-essential personnel and family members who had been ordered to leave after a volley of mortars targeted the embassy. The attack instead hit a girls high school next door, killing a Yemeni security guard and wounding more than a dozen girls.

In the 9:15 am attack Wednesday, gunmen in a vehicle attacked a checkpoint outside the embassy with RPGs and automatic weapons, Yemeni security officials said.

During the assault, suicide bombers in a vehicle made it through the checkpoint and hit a second, inner ring of concrete blocks, and detonated, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.

• SABA, citing an unidentified Interior Ministry official, reported that two suicide car bombs detonated and made no mention of a gunbattle.
• A senior U.S. official in Washington said at least five detonations were heard — but embassy officials spoke of "secondary explosions," suggesting some could have been RPG blasts.
• Some of the attackers were dressed as Yemeni troops, and that Yemeni emergency personnel who first rushed to the scene were hit by heavy sniper fire from gunmen who had stationed themselves across the street from the embassy.

Yemeni security officials said a little-known group called Islamic Jihad, unrelated to the Palestinian group of the same name, claimed responsiblity for the attack. But Yemeni authorities have blamed the group in past attacks that have later been claimed by al-Qaida in postings on the Internet.

The explosions hit passers-by and damaged a nearby residential compound where many Westerners live.

• Smoke rose from near the yellow concrete blocks that ring the embassy.
  
• Ryan Gliha, an embassy spokesman, told The Associated Press that at least one car bomb detonated. Speaking by telephone from inside the large embassy compound, he could not immediately say if there was any damage to the facility from the blast outside.
• At least seven wounded civilians, including children from nearby houses, were taken to the capital's Republican Hospital, a medical official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.

American officials were also alarmed when Yemeni courts commuted a death sentence for Jamal al-Badawi, convicted of masterminding the Cole attack, giving him instead 15 years in prison.

The Rest @ The Associated Press