Somalia TGS Strikes Back

MOGADISHU - Somali government forces attacked rebel strongholds in Mogadishu on Friday, triggering battles across the capital that killed at least 15 people.

• Witnesses said four insurgents from the hardline Islamist al Shabaab group died and a journalist from local independent Shabelle Radio was also killed.
• "I saw masked men running away carrying the bodies of four of their friends," said a mother-of-three who lives in the city's sprawling Bakara Market, told Reuters.
• "We were surprised to see men in government uniforms fighting in Bakara. They have recaptured four police stations between here and the palace, and they are advancing further."
• Sources at two Mogadishu hospitals said they received 85 wounded civilians on Friday, and that four of them later died.
• Residents in the city's Hodon district said the bodies of six dead insurgents were lying at a police station there.

Residents said Friday's pre-dawn assaults looked to be a concerted effort by pro-government forces to seize back control of strategic sites in the capital held by the rebels.

• "They have surrounded Bakara Market, al Shabaab's biggest stronghold in the city. We hope for the sake of peace that the government forces do not retreat later," one local man said.

Hassan Mahdi, a spokesman for Hizbul Islam, another Islamist guerrilla group battling the government, told Reuters by telephone that troops had struck at their positions too.

• "Al Shabaab and Hizbul Islam are counter-attacking ... we have pushed them back in some places. There are casualties, but I can't say how many. We are in the middle of fighting," Mahdi said as heavy gunfire thundered in the background.

Local journalist Abdirizak Warsame was killed in the crossfire as he walked to work at his radio station."A stray bullet hit him in the head and he died on the spot," Shabelle Radio boss Mukhtar Mohamed Hirabe told Reuters.

The Rest @ Dose.ca

Caucasus: Musa Mukozhev, Khasan Sizhazhev, Abu Usman and Zeytun Sultanov Killed

Three Deaths confirmed by Anikah.

Our brothers the Naibs (deputies) of the Combined Province of KBK,

• Emir Abu Muhammad (Musa Mukozhev)
• Emir Hamza (Marat Guliyev)
• brother Khasan Sizhazhev became Shuhada (Martyrs), on 10 May 2009.

....But we testify that decent brothers, who were engaged in the affairs of Muslims of Northern Caucasus for more than 10 years have left us. And who knew them know that who these brothers were and what business they did.....

....Information on martyrdom of a Naib of Wali of KBK Province, our brother Abu Usman (Zeytun Sultanov), who [was killed in battle]on 22 April 2009 in the village of Hasanya of Combined Province of KBK, has also been confirmed......

The Rest from Anikah

Abu Zubayr wounded, Possibly Dead

The leader of Al Shabaab is reported to have been wounded and possibly killed in what appears to be an accidental explosion at a safe house outside Mogadishu.

Ahmed Abdi Aw Mohamed, the reclusive spiritual leader of the radical al Qaeda-linked terror group, was seriously wounded in the explosion on May 17. He is reportedly being treated at a hospital in northern Mogadishu, according to Garowe Online. Another source, Waaga Cusub, a Toronto-based Somali website aligned with the Hawiye clan in Mogadishu, speculated that Mohamed may have been killed, although the report has not been confirmed.

• Eleven Shabaab fighters and three or four "foreign fighters" were killed in the incident.
• One report indicated that three Pakistanis were among those killed.
• After the incident, Shabaab fighters immediately cordoned the home and prevented witnesses from getting near the site, making confirmation difficult.
• Mohamed, who is also known as Sheikh Mukhtar Abu Zubayr and Godane, is reported to have been hosting a meeting of senior Shabaab commanders when the explosion occurred. No other senior leaders have been reported killed or wounded.
• The cause of the explosion is unknown.
• One witness told Waaga Cusub that "missiles" struck the safe house.
• No US airstrike has been reported in the region.
• US officials contacted by The Long War Journal would not comment on the reports of a potential strike.
• The US has carried out several strikes against al Qaeda and Shabaab leaders since early 2007.

But the cause of the explosion appears to be a premature detonation of one or more bombs on site. A source close to Shabaab told Garowe Online that one or more car bombs detonated due to faulty wiring.

• Another witness told Waaga Cusub that one of the Pakistanis was training for a suicide attack against African peacekeepers and crossed the wrong wires.
• After the explosion on Sunday, a Shabaab spokesman stated that three car bombs built for use against African peacekeepers had accidentally detonated.
  

Shabaab has carried out numerous suicide attacks inside Somalia and the semi-autonomous regions of Puntland and Somaliland. The terror group is estimated to have between 280 and 300 foreign fighters in its ranks.

Shabaab has openly lobbied to join al Qaeda, and the offer has been warmly received by Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri, al Qaeda's second in command.

• Mohamed is one of the original founders of Shabaab, or the Young Mujahideen Movement in Somalia.


• In November 2008, Mohamed and two other senior Shabaab leaders were designated as terrorists by the US.


• He has taken on a more visible role since the death of Shabaab's chief military commander Aden Hashi Ayro in a May 1, 2008, airstrike.


• Mohamed rarely appears in the media, but just six days ago released an audio recording in which he denounced the Somali government, led by President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, a former ally during the rule of the Islamic Courts.


• Ahmed and the parliament had attempted to appease the radical Islamist groups by passing a bill imposing sharia, or Islamic law, throughout the country.

Shabaab and the allied Hizbul Islam are battling for control of central and southern Somalia with Islamic Courts factions that reconciled with the weak Transitional Federal Government. Despite the alliance and support from several thousand African Union troops, the Ahmed government controls only small areas of the capital of Mogadishu; nearly all of the southern and central provinces are under Shabaab and Hizbul Islam control.

.....Shabaab recently took control of the town of Jowhar in the central province of Hiran from the Islamic Courts.

• The move sparked an incursion from the Ethiopian Army, which invaded Somalia in December 2006, ousted the Islamic Courts, and occupied the country until its withdrawal in January 2009.
• Ethiopian forces have been spotted moving into Hiran. The incursion has placed the Ahmed government in an awkward position.

The Ethiopians are disliked, but the Islamic Courts and the Somali government are incapable of defeating Shabaab and Hizbul Islam without outside help.

The Rest @ The Long War Journal

Hassan Dahir Aweys flew on Capital Arilines Plane from Kenya

Farah Transport chartered a plane with Capital Airlines to Fly Hassan Dahir Aweys and Six others from Eritria to Mogadishu on 22 April, 2009.


Somalia Islamist Military Offensive

• It looks like Turki and his group is running the Logistics, and has brought at least one resuplly of fresh foreigh troops an supplies up from the south.
• There is a Sheikh Umal legedly raising Funds for Shabaab out of an Eastleigh, Kenya Hotel. The operation in Eastleigh is part of a network that extends to Europe and provides ready cash for radical fighters in Mogadishu.

but that is for another post...

See the article below..

-Shimron Issachar

Nairobi - Kenya has been sucked into the Somali conflict after a key radical on the US terror watch-list used a Nairobi-based airline to fly to Mogadishu from Eritrea.

The Somali government has written a protest note to Nairobi after Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys flew on a plane owned by Capital Airlines, which is based at Wilson Airport.

Sheikh Aweys and six other Somali nationals took the flight on April 22, 2009, and now the government in Mogadishu is accusing Kenya of aiding one of the men on the US list of wanted terrorists, who is also accused of links to Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda network.

• Sheikh Aweys’ Hizb-al-Islam together with fighters from the Al-Shabaab movement threaten to take over the capital, Mogadishu.
• “It is true that the said Kenyan aircraft flew Sheikh Aweys into Mogadishu and the Somali government has written to Kenya through the Foreign Affairs ministry to complain about it,” a source privy to the letter but who sought anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter said.
• The United Nations has placed Sheikh Aweys on a list of people “belonging to or associated with” al Qaeda while Washington has ruled out contact with Sheikh Aweys, who denies links to al Qaeda.
• Fighters from Hizb-al-Islam and Al-Shabaab are reported to be within 50 kilometres of the Somali capital.
• Sheikh Aweys has in the past called for the unification of all Somali-inhabited lands, including Kenya’s North Eastern Province, into a Greater Somalia.
• In the 1990s, Sheikh Aweys headed al-Itihaad al-Islamiya, an Islamist group that was responsible for terrorist attacks on hotels and markets in Addis Ababa and was originally funded by bin Laden and was linked to the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.
• On November 7, 2001, Sheikh Aweys was named a “supporter of terrorism” and is also on the terrorist list of the United States.
• The fall of the Transitional Government in Mogadishu would see the return of an extremist Islamist administration in Somalia led by figures accused of being close to global terrorist networks.
• Sheikh Aweys was the leader of the Islamic Courts Union that ruled Somalia briefly in 2006 and 2007 before it was dislodged by Ethiopian forces supporting the Transitional government.
• The Ethiopian forces withdrew after the arrival of a token African Union force in Mogadishu, but since then renewed fighting that threatens to topple the government of President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed has sent jitters in the region.

Kenya and Ethiopia are particularly concerned by the deteriorating situation and the rebound of radical Islamist forces.

• According to documents seen by the Nation, the flight from Eritrea to Mogadishu cost Sheikh Aweys and his compatriots $25,000 and was paid for by a firm known as Farah Transport.The names of th(Sh1.9 million) e pilots in charge of the flight are given in the manifest as Mr S. Khan and R. Parmar.

The other passengers on the flight are named as:

• Osman A. Hassan
• Aden W. Diriye
• Ali O. Mohamed
• Kheyre A. Ali
• Mohamed S. Ali
• Idris J. Abdi

When the Nation called Capital Airlines offices at Wilson airport, a woman who identified herself only as Jackie declined to comment and instead referred us to the operations manager.

The manager said he was not aware of the Asmara-Mogadishu flight.“I am not aware of such a flight but we will call you back in 10 minutes. Our MD is not in at the moment,” the manager said. They did not, however, call back.

• Captain Khan and flight officer Parmar were said to have been out of the office.
• The flight was allegedly booked in Nairobi by an unidentified man who claimed to work for Farah Transport.
• On Wednesday, a Kenya Ministry of Foreign Affairs official in the Horn of Africa Division, who could not be quoted because he is not authorised to talk to journalists, confirmed the receipt of the complaint letter from the UN backed Somalia government and said appropriate action would be taken.
• Ethiopia was on Wednesday hosting an Igad meeting that was also attended by Kenya’s Foreign minister Moses Wetang’ula.

Should Al-Shabaab and Hizb-al-Islam take the Somali capital, African Union’s peace-keeping operation, Amisom, would have to evacuate its 4,300 soldiers.

The token force of mostly Uganda soldiers has been frequently targeted by radical fighters.The force is commanded by Ugandan Major-General Francis Okello who has finalised evacuation plans, but the AU’s special representative for Somalia Nicholas Bwakira says the troops will remain in Mogadishu as long as they have the backing of the Transitional government.

He said at a press conference:“Our mandate is given by the international community. We are in Somalia at the invitation of the government. We intend to continue our work despite the position of Al-Shabaab.”

Already, reports from Mogadishu say that there are 250 foreign fighters who are leading the attack on the capital.

• The fighters are from Pakistan, Afghanistan and other Arab countries.
• Meanwhile, security sources in Nairobi suspect that there is stepped up fund-raising by Somali radical groups in Nairobi believed to operate from a hotel in Eastleigh.
• One top fundraiser is known as Sheikh Umal. The operation in Eastleigh is part of a network that extends to Europe and provides ready cash for radical fighters in Mogadishu.

The Rest @ Inside Somalia.org

Muktar Abdirahman Godane Wounded 17 May

According to this 18 May report from Garowe Online, a media group with al Shabaab links, There was a mysterious explosion at a house was located in Daynile district, in the outskirts of Mogadishu on Sunday. Neighbors were forced to stay inside their homes and onlookers were prevented from coming anywhere close to the house by Al Shabaab gunmen.

It turns out that Godane was there when the explosion occured and was wounded. 17 others were killed, including 4 "foreign fighters"

See the following Report published on 20 May

-Shimron Issachar

MOGADISHU, Somalia May 20 (Garowe Online) - The leader of Somalia's Al Shabaab guerrilla group was wounded during a recent accidental explosion, inside sources tell Garowe Online.

Sheikh Muktar Abdirahman "Godane," one of the founders of Al Shabaab and the group's current leader, was wounded when an explosive device "went off accidentally," the sources said.

"The explosive device was being used for training [purpose] but it went off accidentally," said a source close the secretive guerrilla group, adding that Godane was being treated at a private hospital in the northern outskirts of the capital Mogadishu.

On Sunday, an accidental explosion at a house where Al Shabaab fighters were lacing vehicles with explosives killed 17 people. READ: Mysterious explosion kills 17, including 'foreign fighters'

Godane recently issued an audio tape where he spoke about the anti-government insurgency being spearheaded by Al Shabaab fighters in Mogadishu and other parts of south-central Somalia. READ: Al Shabaab leader speaks, more fighting in Mogadishu


The Rest @ Garowe Online

Sufi Muhammad Update

Sufi Muhammad was reported to have left his home in Lower Dir on May 4 after it was hit by mortar fire in the opening phases of Operation Rah-e-Haq 4. He is now believed to be in the TNSM stronghold at Aman Darra (Pakistan Observer, May 5). His son, Maulana Kifayatullah, was killed in the shelling of his home in Lower Dir (The News, [Islamabad], May 8).

The Rest @ syedmdasadullah

Shabaab Ransack United Nations and UNICEF Offices in Jowhar

Keep in mind that Garowe has historically had intimate access o Shabaab Leaders and has been a "friendly" voice for their cause"

-Shimron Issachar

19 May (Garowe)

There were no U.N. personnel present at the offices in Jowhar, the capital of Middle Shabelle region that was overtaken by Al Shabaab on Sunday. U.N. officers were evacuated from Jowhar before the Al Shabaab takeover, sources added.

• "Al Shabaab fighters armed with weapons broke down the doors and took equipment," a security guard at a U.N. compound in Jowhar said on the condition of anonymity.
• Offices raided include the UNICEF compound and MSF offices in Jowhar, local sources reported.
• No one was hurt during the raids and Al Shabaab commanders did nothing to stop the raids, locals said.
• Sheikh Ali Mohamed Hussein, who was asked about the raids by the BBC Somali Service, declined to comment but stated that Al Shabaab would "return the equipment."
• He called on U.N. and other aid agencies to "calm down and to continue working" in Middle Shabelle region.

The Rest @ Garowe Online