Atom is Shababab, Which is al Qaeda -Atom is al Qaeda

Security forces under the command of the semi-autonomous region of Puntland in northern Somalia claimed to have defeated Shabaab and driven the al Qaeda-linked group from an area that has been described as the Tora Bora of East Africa.

Puntland forces launched the operation against Shabaab fighters under the command of Mohammed Said Atom in the Galgala Mountains region in late July.

"We have attacked their bases and chase them away," Puntland Security Minister Yusuf Ahmed Qeyr told Garowe two days ago. "Our forces are now in full control of the Galgala Mountains and the enemy suffered heavy casualties."

• Qeyr did not give an estimate of Shabaab casualties, but one commander claimed that the bodies of 11 terrorists were found, while three soldiers were killed.
• Another report claimed that "dozens" of Shabaab fighters were killed.
• Shabaab commander Atom has not been reported as killed or captured in the fighting.
• Local Puntland officials said Atom's bases in the mountainous region in the province of Sanaag are "like Tora Bora in Afghanistan," with cave complexes and training camps [see AFP report, Fears of a new Tora Bora in northern Somalia].
• In 2002, al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden battled against US Special Forces and Afghan militias in the Tora Bora mountain complex in Nangarhar in eastern Afghanistan.
  Atom denies links to Shabaab

Both Shabaab and Atom have denied that fighting in Puntland is related to the al Qaeda-linked group. "Al Shabaab is not connected to them [Atom's forces] and it's the local people in Galgala that are fighting against the Puntland government and PIS [Puntland's intelligence service]," Sheikh Ali Mohammed Rage, Shabaab's top spokesman, told Voice of America Somalia.

"There is no Al Shabaab involved," Atom said. "Themselves [Shabaab] are saying they are not involved."

But as Garowe reported,

• Atom and Rage provided nearly identical answers in coordinated statements to the press.
• Atom evaded direct questions on whether he was a member of Shabaab.
• He also echoed Shabaab talking points on the establishment of an Islamic state.
  

"We are Muslims and we wish to build an Islamic state and to remove the Ashahado la Dirir from Somalia," Atom told reporters. The Ashahado la Dirir is a phrase used by Shabaab and its predecessor, the Islamic Courts Union, to describe Somali and foreign enemies, Garowe reported.

UN links Atom to Shabaab

Earlier this year, the United Nations identifed Atom as "one of the principal suppliers of arms and ammunition for Al Shabaab operations in the Puntland region."

"Atom is aligned with Al Shabaab and may receive instructions from Al Shabaab leader Fu'aad Mohamed Khalaf," the UN report continued.

The UN linked Atom to the Feb. 5, 2008, bombing in Bosaso that killed 20 Ethiopian migrant workers and wounded more than 100. Shabaab has declared war on Ethiopia and has attacked Ethiopian troops and interests throughout the country.

• Shabaab has successfully carried out terror attacks in the relatively peaceful Somali north in the past. On Oct. 29, 2008, five Shabaab suicide bombers struck four compounds in Somaliland and Puntland, killing 28 and wounding scores.
• Three suicide car bombers struck the presidential palace, the UN Development Program compound, and the Ethiopian Consulate in the city of Hargeisa in Somaliland.
• In Bosaso, two bombers targeted an intelligence facility.
• On July 11 of this year, Shabaab carried out its first suicide attack outside Somalia, when two bombers detonated at restaurants in Kampala, Uganda, as soccer fans watched the World Cup.
• In that attack, 74 civilians were killed and more than 60 were wounded.

The Shabaab cell that carried out the Kampala attack is called the Saleh Ali Nabhan Brigade, which is named after the slain al Qaeda leader who also served as a senior Shabaab leader.

Nabhan was one of the most sought out al Qaeda operatives in Africa. He was wanted for involvement in the 1998 suicide attacks against US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

Shabaab's top leadership positions are dominated by foreign commanders, according to an intelligence assessment by the African Union Mission for Somalia. The foreign Shabaab commanders have trained in al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan or Pakistan, and many have entered Somalia over the past year to assume top leadership roles in Shabaab.

The al Qaeda commanders come from Kenya, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Sudan, and the United States.Read more:

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Al Sabaab is Al Qaeda - Old but Reaffirmed News

This is not new news, but when one understands how Al Qaeda works, especially in Africa. Understand this:

There is no quibbling about the FACT that al Qaeda conducted the World Cup suicide bombings.

Al Shabaab IS al Qaeda in East Africa. Though al Shabaab leadership has a wide latitude of independant action, they are as much al Qaeda as any group outside Pakistan. Al Shabaab counts on al qaeda endorsment to get funding and the foreign fighter recruits which now make up the majority of its force.

Al Shabaab must replace Somali fighters because Somalia al Shabaab fighters s are largely fighting for Somalia, for "freedom" from the Transitional Federal Government (TFG).

Al Shabaab is fighting to lead an Islamist revolution, starting in Somalia and spreading West until "all Africa becomes part of the next caliphate." There are Islamists not publicly carrying out Jihad.

Al Qaeda resources are directing foreign fighter recruits toward Somalia.

- Shimron Issachar

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Al Qaeda's senior leadership has advised Shabaab, its affiliate in Somalia, to downplay links between the two terror groups and suggested that future attacks be directed at US interests in East Africa.

"Al Qaeda's top leadership has instructed Shabaab to maintain a low profile on al Qaeda links," a senior US intelligence official who closely follows al Qaeda and Shabaab in East Africa told The Long War Journal. The official, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the subject, said the information was passed between the top leadership of both groups.


"Al Qaeda has accepted Shabaab into the fold and, and any additional statements would only serve to draw international scrutiny," the intelligence official said. "Al Qaeda is applying lessons learned from Iraq, that an overexposure of the links between al Qaeda central leadership and its affiliates can cause some unwanted attention."


Shabaab's double suicide attack in Uganda on July 11 was well received by al Qaeda's top
leadership, who want Shabaab to continue to hitting US interests in Africa.

"Al Qaeda is pleased with the double suicide attack in Uganda, but suggested Shabaab reserve future strikes at US interests in the region," the official said.


The July 11 double suicide attack in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, killed 74 civilians as they
watched the World Cup's final soccer match. The mastermind of the Kampala attacks, Isah Ahmed Luyima, said he executed the bombings with the intent of maximizing US deaths.

"I targeted places where many Americans go," Luyima said in a press conference hosted by Ugandan police on Aug. 12. "I was made to believe that Americans were responsible for the suffering of Muslims all over the world."

The Shabaab cell that carried out the Uganda attack called itself the Saleh Ali Nabhan Brigade.
Saleh Ali Slaeh Nabhan was a top al Qaeda and Shabaab leader who has been indicted by the US for his involvement in the 1998 bombings at the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

Nabhan was indicted with several top al Qaeda leaders, including Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri. Nabhan served as Shabaab's top military commander before US special operations forces killed him in a raid in southern Somalia in September 2009.


Evidence of Shabaab's attempts to minimize its regional reach could recently be seen in Somalia's north after Shabaab commander Mohammed Said Atom and Shabaab both downplayed any ties after security forces attacked terror training camps operated by Atom in the Galgala Mountains in late July.

Shabaab's links to al Qaeda

Al Qaeda has praised Shabaab and its predecessor, the Islamic Courts Union, for years prior to accepting Shabaab into the fold. For years al Qaeda has helped produced propaganda for the Islamic Courts and Shabaab and has addressed the group in its own propaganda tapes. Osama bin Laden endorsed the Islamic Courts during a speech back in 2006.

"We will continue, God willing, to fight you and your allies everywhere, in Iraq and Afghanistan and in Somalia and Sudan until we waste all your money and kill your men and you will return to your country in defeat as we defeated you before in Somalia," bin Laden said. Al Qaeda leaders Ayman al Zawahiri and Abu Yahya al Libi have also directly addressed Shabaab and voiced their support for the terror group's activities.

During the summer of 2008, Shabaab sought to formally join al Qaeda. By the end of that year, al Qaeda had accepted Shabaab as its official affiliate in East Africa.

Shabaab's former spokesman and top military commander, Sheikh Mukhtar Robow, admitted that many Shabaab leaders have trained with and take instruction from al Qaeda. "Most of our leaders were trained in Al Qaeda camps," Robow told The Los Angeles Times in August 2008. "We get our tactics and guidelines from them," he continued. "Many have spent time with Osama bin Laden." Other Shabaab leaders have also admitted to links with al Qaeda.

"We will take our orders from Sheikh Osama bin Laden because we are his students," Robow continued. "Al Qaeda is the mother of the holy war in Somalia."

In September of 2008, Shabaab formally reached out to al Qaeda's senior leadership in an effort to better integrate with the network and its strategic nodes across Africa and the Middle East. The effort came in the form of a 24-minute video that featured Nabhan.

In the tape, Nabhan declared an oath of bayat (loyalty) on behalf of Shabaab to bin Laden and al Qaeda and encouraged fighters to train in Shabaab-run camps and participate in the fight against the transitional federal government, Ethiopian forces, and African Union peacekeepers.

The response to Shabaab's declaration came two months later, on Nov. 19, 2008, when al Qaeda operations chief Ayman al-Zawahiri acknowledged the group in a propaganda video by calling them "my brothers, the lions of Islam in Somalia."


"[R]ejoice in victory and conquest," Zawahiri said in an official transcript acquired by The Long War Journal, "and hold tightly to the truth for which you have given your lives, and don't put down your weapons before the Mujahid state of Islam and Tawheed [oneness with god] has been set up in Somalia."

Most of Shabaab's top leaders are foreign al Qaeda operatives. Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, who also was indicted for his involvement in the 1998 attacks in Kenya and Tanzania, served as Shabaab's top intelligence official before replacing Nabhan as Shabaab's top military leader. Al Qaeda also appointed Fazul as its operations chief for East Africa.

Shaykh Muhammad Abu Fa'id, a Saudi citizen, serves as a top financier and a "manager" for Shabaab. Abu Musa Mombasa, a Pakistani citizen, serves as Shabaab's chief of security and training. Mahmud Mujajir, a Sudanese citizen, is Shabaab's chief of recruitment for suicide bombers. Abu Mansour al Amriki, a US citizen, serves as a military commander, recruiter, financier, and propagandist.

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