Tagged: somalia
Toronto man told undercover officer it was ‘God’s Will’ for him join terror-group Al-Shabab, trial hears
Mohamed Hersi leaves the Brampton Superior Court after he was granted bail regarding charges of allegedly planning to join a Somali group associated with al-Qaida, Friday April 29, 2011.
BRAMPTON, Ont.—A Toronto security guard on trial for allegedly attempting to join the Somali terrorist group Al-Shabab said he believed it was his religious duty to do so, an undercover police officer testified on Tuesday.
“It’s the ultimate sacrifice you can make for your religion,” Mohamed Hassan Hersi said, according to the testimony of the officer, whose identity cannot be disclosed to due a publication ban. “Basically it’s God’s will.”
Three years after Mr. Hersi was arrested at Toronto’s Pearson Airport as he was about to board flights to London and Cairo, his trial is now underway and jurors are hearing from the undercover officer who befriended the Somali-Canadian.
The trial comes amid concern over the radicalization of Canadians — dozens of whom have joined Islamist terror groups in the Middle East and Africa. Al-Shabab was behind last year’s massacre at the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi that left two Canadians dead.
A 28-year-old Canadian who grew up in Toronto, Mr. Hersi came to the attention of police in September 2010 when an employee of a Toronto dry cleaning business found a USB device in a bag of clothes, according to a statement of “agreed facts” released by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
The dry cleaner turned the jump drive over to Toronto police, which found it contained a copy of The Anarchist’s Cookbook, a Canadian Forces Department of National Defense Operational Manual and reports from Intercon Security, where Mr. Hersi worked.
In the months that followed, police planted an undercover officer close to Mr. Hersi. The officer testified that at a meeting in January in the Scarborough Town Centre parking lot, he asked Mr. Hersi how he knew he wanted to join Al-Shabab.
“He believed it was the duty of every Muslim,” the officer said. When the officer, who was pretending he also wanted to join Al-Shabab, confided he was having doubts, Mr. Hersi said that was the devil talking. “He puts these voices in your head,” Mr. Hersi allegedly said.
By late January, police had obtained permission to record Mr. Hersi’s conversations. Nowhere in the tapes played Tuesday did Mr. Hersi say clearly that he intended to join Al-Shabab, although he appeared to give the officer advice about Al-Shabab and traveling to Somalia. “Don’t be scared,” Mr. Hersi said.
But Mr. Hersi did speak repeatedly about wanting to leave Canada, which he said was “like a police state,” and mentioned his plans to go to Egypt and, from there, to possibly make his way to Somalia, where Al-Shabab was battling pro-government forces in an attempt to impose its severe version of Islamic law.
“Here everything is anti-prayer, anti-Islam … even if it’s a tyrannical place, it’s better than Canada,” he said. “I want to live in a place that’s better than this.” Somalia was better than Canada, he said, “because you can live in a place where there’s Islamic law.”
New recruits belonging to Somalia’s al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab rebel group celebrate at a military training base in Afgoye, west of the capital Mogadishu
In his rambling conversations, he decried what he considered Canada’s hostility to his faith, claiming that “all non-Muslims hate Islam.” But he appeared to display intolerance himself, saying that “talking to a non-Muslim about morality and shit, they don’t even know what morality is, Christians.”
He also complained that “brothers” at Toronto’s Salahedin mosque had been arrested on security certificates (used to deport foreign nationals deemed threats to Canada’s security), and said nobody cared because only Muslims were affected. Asked how he knew, he said, “My imam talks about it.”
“It’s pretty tyrannical,” he said.
He claimed to know the son of one of the terror suspects arrested on a security certificate, and complained police were entering peoples’ homes and planting listening devices and cameras. “The government is very evil, what they’re doing to average Muslims.”
In anticipation of leaving Canada, Mr. Hersi was working as many shifts as he could to earn money and had joined a Goodlife fitness club, the undercover officer testified. “He explained he wanted to get fitter before he went away,” he said.
When he was arrested at the airport, Mr. Hersi was carrying his Canadian passport, US$6,000, 1,100 Euros, and what was described as a “black spy pen.” On his laptop, police found the “Anarchy Cookbook” and the “U.S. Navy SEAL sniper training syllabus.”
National Post
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Female genital mutilation: Hospitals to log victims * Videos*
Log the incidence by all means, but wouldn’t it be more appropriate, in addition ,to report it to the authorities so that legal proceedings can be instigated .It has after all been an illegal practice in the UK since 1985 !
As the government announces hospitals are being told to log information on patients who have suffered or are at risk of suffering female genital mutilation (FGM), three generations of one family scarred by the practice have spoken out.
In a modest house in north London, a Somali family debates the wrongs of FGM.
Two of them, grandmother Fatima Ali and her daughter Lul Musse, were cut as girls in Somalia. One, Lul’s daughter Samira Hashi, who came to the UK as an infant, has not been and will not be.
Fatima, who is in her 80s, was mutilated in the most brutal way – FGM in its most extreme form, and without anaesthetic.
“I was seven years old,” she says, speaking through her granddaughter as an interpreter.
She says she was in a group of four girls and that she initially felt brave and excited and had wanted to go first.
“The woman that was cutting me had my blood, splashing over her face,” she says.
She says the pain she went through “nearly killed me” but that she went on to have it done to her daughter because she was “not educated enough” and thought it was the Islamic thing to do.
“I understand now it was wrong and can’t let my grandchildren go through what I’ve been through,” she says.
Fatima and her daughter are now vocally anti-FGM. But the most outspoken is Samira, who has become a public campaigner against the practice. She’s a student, has worked as a model, and she took part in a BBC Three documentary that took her back to Somalia, where she saw first-hand the effect on little girls of FGM.
“A lot of people are suffering in silence, that’s what I learned when I went back home. It’s basic human rights. It should not happen,” she says.
“It’s not just in Somalia. It’s embedded in a lot of cultures.”
‘Child Abuse’
Comfort believes FGM is a big problem in the UK
Comfort Momoh, who runs the African Women’s Health Centre in Guy’s Hospital in London, agrees.
Hundreds of women from Africa, Asia and the Middle East have come to the centre for help and treatment after having their sex organs mutilated in childhood.
“It is child abuse. We need to educate ourselves, we need to end FGM and we need to empower the community,” she says.
“The community see it as an act of love, as preparing their girls for adulthood. They see it as a rite of passage in some communities… and some truly believe it’s a religious obligation, which it’s not.
“What I’d like to point out here is that sometimes people tend to think, ‘Oh well, it’s mainly the Muslim that performs FGM’. The Christian performs FGM alike. It’s not in the Koran… not in the Bible, so sometimes people tend to think it’s a religious obligation, but it’s not.”
Hidden
Cutting a girl’s genitals is a practice unthinkable to the majority of people. But in the UK it is carried out in communities originally from Somalia, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Egypt, to name a few.
The girls, usually before their 10th birthday, are taken to their countries of origin during the school holidays to have either part or all of their external genitals removed, sometimes without anaesthetic. The trauma is huge, the risk of haemorrhage and infection very high.
It is a secret, hidden business, seen by those who adhere to it as a rite of passage, by those who oppose it as a means of oppression, and by lawmakers as illegal.
FGM has been a criminal offence in the UK since 1985.
But to date, no-one in Britain has been prosecuted for it, despite reports that it is on the rise.
Part of the problem is getting girls or young women to give evidence against their parents.
There is also a lack of real knowledge about how prevalent it is and where it is taking place – and this is hampering social services and the police in the collection of evidence.
On the United Nations’ Day of Zero Tolerance to FGM, on Thursday, ministers are taking a step towards trying to uncover the full scale of the problem in Britain, setting up an official data log, to enable doctors and nurses to record details of the wounds of each victim they see on their hospital database.
This will lead, in the autumn, to the first snapshot of how many women have been treated by the NHS for FGM, and in the longer term will help identify families where the girls are at risk.
Ms Momoh sees women who experience huge physical difficulty and pain in childbirth after being cut. And she sees up to two patients a week who want the operation reversed.
“FGM is a big problem. It is a growing problem, unfortunately,” she says.
Turning A Blind Eye
Official figures put the number of victims of FGM in the UK at about 66,000, but this number is extrapolated from the 2001 census and is widely accepted as being far short of the real picture.
Police and prosecutors have spoken in recent months of bringing the first case to court “imminently”, but that has yet to happen. It’s in striking contrast to France where 35 cases have reached the higher courts.
Some accuse the authorities in the UK, in the NHS, schools, and social services, of turning a blind eye because of cultural sensitivities – being unwilling to meddle in someone else’s accepted ritual, instead of seeing it as an assault inflicted on a child powerless to object.
Ms Momoh says this is right “to some extent,” but the big problem is a “lack of knowledge, lack of awareness among professionals.
Women in Bristol protesting against FGM
“GPs are the front-line provider or first point of call. If they have lack of knowledge around FGM, what is going to provide the support to women and girls?”
Campaigners want it to be mandatory for healthcare and other professionals to have to report suspected FGM, just as they report stab wounds, or other forms of child abuse.
But although not as bold, they welcome this initiative on data collection in the NHS.
Educating people out of mutilating their girls is the eventual goal and educating the medics who care for the victims is a welcome first step.
source: BBC NEWS
Related Articles
- BBC News – Hidden world of female genital mutilation in the UK
- BBC News – ‘Rise in female genital mutilation’ in London
- BBC News – Bristol women protest against genital mutilation
- BBC News – Study will update female genital mutilation figures
- BBC News – MPs urge more action on female genital mutilation
- UK: The Crisis of Female Genital Mutilation :: Gatestone Institute
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Countries where homosexuality is punishable by death
SAUDI ARABIA
Notorious for its adherence to Wahhabism, a puritanical strain of Islam, and as the birthplace of most of the 9/11 hijackers, Saudi Arabia is the only Arab country that holds sharia (Islamic law) as its sole legal code.
That means smoking, drinking, going to discos, and mixing with unrelated persons of the opposite sex are all “haram” (forbidden).
Religious police (“mutaween”) are on constant patrol, enforcing the laws.
Sodomy is punishable by death. However, paradoxically, the strict laws limiting the mixing of the sexes mean that it is in many ways easier to be gay in Saudi Arabia than to be straight. As long as gays and lesbians maintain the appearances of conforming to Wahhabist rules, they can do what they want in private.
Visitors to Jeddah and Riyadh can find thriving communities of homosexuals – who meet in schools, cafés, on the streets, and on the Internet.
“You can be cruised anywhere in Saudi Arabia, any time of the day. They’re quite shameless about it,” Radwan, a 42-year-old gay Saudi American who grew up in various Western cities and now lives in Jeddah, told The Atlantic magazine.
Talal, a Syrian who moved to Riyadh in 2000, told the magazine that the Saudi capital is a “gay heaven.”
However, what surprises Westerners is that many Saudi men who have sex with other men do not consider themselves to be gay.
The sight of men holding hands is commonplace in Saudi Arabia and many other Arab countries, and is not seen as a suspicious act.
AFGHANISTAN
Homosexuality is outlawed by the Afghan constitution, but Shariah law is more likely to be enforced by vigilante groups than by the authorities.
But like Saudi Arabia, homosexuality is widespread – namely relations between adult men and young dancing boys, known as “bacha bazi”.
The practice of wealthy men forcing boys to dress up as women and dance at gatherings goes back to ancient times – but has seen a sharp revival in post-Taliban Afghanistan, according to human rights groups.
Boys who become bachas are seen as property, and those perceived as being particularly beautiful can be sold for tens of thousands of dollars. The men who control them sometimes rent them out as dancers at male-only parties, and some are prostituted.
Despite the negative social attitudes and legal prohibitions, there is an institutionalized form of bisexuality within Afghan culture.
This occurs when boys are kidnapped to act as sexual slaves for adult men, typically in a militia, or when an adult man buys sexual favors from young boys with money or gifts.
These activities are tolerated within Afghan culture because they are not perceived as being an expression of a LGBT-identity, but rather an expression of male power and dominance; as the boy in these situations is forced to assume the “female” role in the relationship.
YEMEN
Use of the death penalty remains persistently high in Yemen — the Middle Eastern country was ranked in 2012 by Amnesty International as one of the eight worst offenders for capital punishment in the world, with at least 28 cases that year.
While sodomy carries the death penalty by stoning in Yemen, reports suggest the extreme punishment has not been used for it in recent years, according to Death Penalty Worldwide.
However, it’s extremely rare for a Yemeni to come out as gay, even though a thriving underground LGBT community exists.
IRAN
Since the Iranian Revolution of 1979, homosexuality has been outlawed – and lesbians, gays, and bisexuals have been punished by floggings and death sentences.
Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi-Amoli, an influential Iranian cleric, said in a speech last April that homosexuals were inferior to dogs and pigs and blamed them for spread of Aids.
NIGERIA
Both male and female same-sex sexual activity is illegal in Nigeria. The maximum punishment in the twelve northern states that have adopted Sharia law is death by stoning. That law applies to all Muslims and to those who have voluntarily consented to application of the Shari’a courts.
“The Deadly Seven”―Countries With Death Penalty For Homosexuality
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Survey: Reported Christian “martyr” deaths doubled in 2013
LONDON — Reported cases of Christians killed for their faith around the world doubled in 2013 from the year before, with Syria accounting for more than the whole global total in 2012, according to an annual survey.
Open Doors, a non-denominational group supporting persecuted Christians worldwide, said on Wednesday it had documented 2,123 “martyr” killings, compared with 1,201 in 2012. There were 1,213 such deaths in Syria alone last year, it said.
“This is a very minimal count based on what has been reported in the media and we can confirm,” said Frans Veerman, head of research for Open Doors. Estimates by other Christian groups put the annual figure as high as 8,000.
The Open Doors report placed North Korea at the top of its list of 50 most dangerous countries for Christians, a position it has held since the annual survey began 12 years ago. Somalia, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan were the next four in line.
The United States-based group reported increasing violence against Christians in Africa and said radical Muslims were the main source of persecution in 36 countries on its list.
“Islamist extremism is the worst persecutor of the worldwide church,” it said.
Christianity is the largest and most widely spread faith in the world, with 2.2 billion followers, or 32 percent of the world population, according to a survey by the U.S.-based Pew Forum on religion and Public Life.
It faces restrictions and hostility in 111 countries, ahead of the 90 countries limiting or harassing the second-largest faith, Islam, another Pew survey has reported.
Michel Varton, head of Open Doors France, told journalists in Strasbourg that failing states with civil wars or persistent internal tensions were often the most dangerous for Christians.
“In Syria, another war is thriving in the shadow of the civil war — the war against the church,” he said while presenting the Open Doors report there.
About 10 percent of Syrians are Christians. Many have become targets for Islamist rebels who see them as supporters of President Bashar al-Assad.
Nine of the 10 countries listed as dangerous for Christians are Muslim-majority states, many of them torn by conflicts with radical Islamists. Saudi Arabia is an exception but ranked sixth because of its total ban on practicing faiths other than Islam.
In the list of killings, Syria was followed by Nigeria with 612 cases last year after 791 in 2012. Pakistan was third with 88, up from 15 in 2012. Egypt ranked fourth with 83 deaths after 19 the previous year.
The report spoke of “horrific violence often directed at Christians” in the Central African Republic but said only nine deaths were confirmed last year because “most analysts still fail to recognize the religious dimension of the conflict.”
The report had no figures for killings in North Korea but said Christians there faced “the highest imaginable pressure” and some 50,000 to 70,000 lived in political prison camps.
“The God-like worship of the rulers leaves no room for any other religion,” it said.
There was now “a strong drive to purge Christianity from Somalia,” the report added, and Islamist attacks on Iraqi Christians have been increasing in the semi-autonomous Kurdish north, formerly a relatively safe area for them.
Veerman, based near Utrecht in the Netherlands, said that killings were only the most extreme examples of persecutions. Christians also face attacks on churches and schools, discrimination, threats, sexual assaults and expulsion from countries.
Open Doors, which began in the 1950s smuggling Bibles into communist states and now works in more than 60 countries, estimated last year that about 100 million Christians around the world suffered persecution for their faith.
source : CBS
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About the Persecution Of Christians Worldwide
”Everyone has the right to freedom of thought,conscience and religion;this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief,and freedom ,either alone,or in community with others,and in public or in private,to manifest his religion or belief in teaching,practice ,worship and observance” Article 18,Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
WHAT IS CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION?
Christian Persecution is any hostility, experienced from the world, as a result of one’s identification with Christ. From verbal harassment to hostile feelings, attitudes and actions, believers in areas with severe religious restrictions pay a heavy price for their faith.
Beatings, physical torture, confinement, isolation, rape, severe punishment, imprisonment, slavery, discrimination in education and in employment, and even death are just few examples they experience on the daily basis. According to The Pew Research Center, over 75% of the world’s population live in areas with severe religious restrictions.
Many of these people are Christians. Also, according to the United States Department of State, Christians in more than 60 countries face persecution from their governments or surrounding neighbors simply because of their belief in the person of Jesus Christ.
WHERE IT OCCURS?
In the United States, it’s easy for believers to take for granted the rights they so regularly enjoy. From praying and worshiping in public to attending Sunday worship services, practice of one’s faith is generally accepted in America.
But this isn’t the case in many nations such as North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Mali, Syria, etc. in which religion, itself, is banned or where one faith system is permitted and touted, with all others being continually denigrated.
The persecution is so severe in many localities, Christians are systematically targeted and mistreated because of their religious beliefs. According to The Pew Research Center, The Economist, Christians today are the most persecuted religious group in the world.
WHERE CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION IS WORST
Every year, we release our annual “World Watch List,” a ranking of 50 countries that exposes the places Christians are most persecuted across the globe. World Watch List includes individuals in all Christian denominations within an entire nation.
INDEX OF CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION IN THE MOST UNFRIENDLY COUNTRIES
According to this graph, the statistic shows the index of the persecution of Christians in the top unfriendly countries around the world 2013. North Korea is the country with the strongest suppression of Christians with an index value of 87.
The survey for the World Watch List included various aspects of religious freedom: the legal and official status of Christians, the actual situation of Christians living in the country, regulations from the state as well as factors that can undermine the freedom of religion in a country.
WHY IT OCCURS?
The cross (still standing) after the church in Cirebeum (Indonesia) was bulldozed by authorities.
AUTHORITARIAN GOVERNMENTS SEEK TO CONTROL ALL RELIGIOUS THOUGHT AND EXPRESSION
There are variety of reasons why Christians are persecuted. One of the reason it occurs, is when severe abuse of Christians takes place under the authoritarian government.
In the case of North Korea and other Communist countries, authoritarian governments seek to control all religious thought and expression as part of a more comprehensive determination to control all aspects of political and civic life.
These governments regard some religious groups as enemies of the state because they hold religious beliefs that may challenge loyalty to the rulers.
HOSTILITY TOWARDS NONTRADITIONAL AND MINORITY RELIGIOUS GROUPS
Another reason why Christians are persecuted is hostility towards nontraditional and minority religious groups. For example, in Niger more than 98 percent of the population are Muslims and hostility comes more from society than from the government.
Historically, Islam in West Africa has been moderate, but in the last 20 years dozens of Islamic associations have emerged, like the Izala movement which aims to restrict the freedom of ‘deviant Muslims’ and minority religious groups like Christians.
THE LACK OF BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS
The lack of basic human rights is another significant part of persecution in some countries. For instance, in Eritrea violations such as lack of freedom of expression, assembly, religious belief and movement; extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, extended incommunicado detention, torture and indefinite national service cause many Eritreans to flee the country.
In 1966, the United Nations developed the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights in addtion to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 18 of the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights focuses on four elements of religious freedom:
- Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right shall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice, and freedom, either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching.
- No one shall be subject to coercion which would impair his freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice.
- Freedom to manifest one’s religion or beliefs may be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary to protect public safety, order, health, or morals or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others.
- The States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to have respect for the liberty of parents and, when applicable, legal guardians to ensure the religious and moral education of their children in conformity with their own convictions
The Bible calls us to be advocates of human rights. Psalm 82:3 says “Stand up for those who are weak and for those whose fathers have died. See to it that those who are poor and those who are beaten down are treated fairly.” As Christians we need to see that all people are entitled to basic human rights.
WHY WE SERVE PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS?
As Christians in the free world, we are to take stand for our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ. It is a simple matter of compassion and justice to speak up for the suffering (Zechariah 7:9, Luke 11:42, Matthew 25:35-36). In following Christ’s example, we are to show mercy to those who are suffering, especially those in the household of faith (I Corinthians 12:26-27).
Related articles:
- https://cpnagasaki.wordpress.com/2012/12/17/christian-persecution-in-palestine-the-factsnot-islamist-fiction-pdf-videos/
- https://cpnagasaki.wordpress.com/2013/05/30/christians-forced-out-of-muslim-dominated-countries-persecution-worsening-say-reports/
- https://cpnagasaki.wordpress.com/2013/07/15/iran-attempting-to-root-out-christianity-pastor-by-pastor-staggering-truth-about-persecution/
- https://cpnagasaki.wordpress.com/2013/05/24/beyond-boko-haram-the-lethal-persecution-of-nigerias-christians/
- https://cpnagasaki.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/chinas-christians-see-mounting-persecution-in-countrys-effort-to-disband-churches-report-finds/
source: opendoorsusa.org
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Exclusive: Inside an al-Shabaab training camp
Among the most feared of al-Qaeda’s affiliates, al-Shabaab was behind the Westgate shopping mall attack in Kenya. Jamal Osman attended one of its training camps in the Somali bush.
‘Stop fighting us’
The men comprise young Muslims from all over the world: Arabs, Kenyans and even, I was told, some from Britain. They chanted in several languages, but I wasn’t allowed to speak to them. The group was one of two fully armed battalions I saw during my stay. They are determined men who want to crush the western-backed Somali government in Mogadishu. The weak government is propped up by African Union troops, including Kenyan forces who invaded southern Somalia two years ago. That is why al-Shabaab regard the Westgate attack as revenge.
We have said to Kenya many times: stay away from us. They refused. So we decided to spill blood to send the message.Sheikh Ali Dhere
Sheikh Ali Dhere, the public face of the group, told me: “We have said to Kenya many times: stay away from us, leave our land, our people and stop fighting us. We warned them again and again. They refused all of that. So we decided to spill blood to send the message. “Their women are not better than ours. Their sons are not better than ours. Their children are not better than ours. When they kill our people we kill theirs.” Some of the new soldiers at the graduation ceremony showed off their gymnastic skills to impress Sheik Ali Dhere.
Read more: hero's life awaits al-Shabaab's Westgate suspects
Suicide waiting list
Highly organised, these latest additions will soon decide which unit within al-Shabaab to join. They can remain regular fighters, become bomb-makers or work for the Amniyat, al-Shabaab’s security network. But the most popular unit is the Istishhadyin unit, the suicide brigade. And believe it or not, there’s a long waiting list of several years. With months of training, only the best recruits will be accepted. Sheikh Ali Dhere had a message for those wanting to join. “When we fight and are martyred, we hope to be with God in paradise. What are the infidels hoping for? Nothing.”
Alternative government
Al-Shabaab has been designated as a terrorist organisation by several western nations. And after losing control of four major cities, the Islamists were thought to have been defeated. But they still control large parts of the country and see themselves as an alternative government. I visited Bulo Burte, a key strategic crossing point on the Shabelle river. It’s an al-Shabaab stronghold.
When we fight and are martyred, we hope to be with God in paradise. What are the infidels hoping for? Nothing.Sheikh Ali Dhere
It also happens to be the town where one of the Westgate attackers came from. The number and identities of the Westgate attackers still remains a mystery. Kenyans claim they were only four. But locals in the al-Shabaab areas suggest there were more and some are even believed to have returned to Somalia. The spokesman said Westagte was “something that happened at the heart of their country, and they still don’t know whether the men have escaped or not and how many they were. That shows their weakness.”
‘Victory is close’
Unlike other parts of southern and central Somalia, there’s peace under al-Shabaab’s strict sharia law. Women do go to school and are allowed to run their own businesses. I followed the Hizbat, the al-Shabaab police, on their beat. The first stop was a restaurant, where they told the female owner to remove the rubbish from outside. They then made their way to the local hospital, where they checked the pharmacy and the cleanliness of the rooms. They seem satisfied. Our final stop was a mini supermarket where they checked product expiry dates. But as soon as they heard the call to prayer, everything stopped. People headed to the mosque for midday prayer, whether they liked it or not. The al-Shabaab police made sure that everyone went to the mosque. Passing vehicles are pulled over. The mosque quickly fills up, with some having to pray outside in the heat. It’s a good opportunity for Sheikh Ali Dhere – this time in civilian clothes – to drum up more support. “It’s you who are meant to deal with the infidels,” he tells the congregation. “It’s you who should defend Islam. God willing, we’ll be victorious. Victory is close. The infidels haven’t got much left. They are in the eleventh hour.” source: 4 NEWS
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- Al-Shabaab Back on Twitter Two Months After Account Suspended After Nairobi Mall Attack (matthewaid.com)
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- Foreign Fighters in Somalia and al-Shabaab’s Internal Purge (raffaellopantucci.com)
- Al-Shabaab Threatens Further Attacks in Kenya (willsummer.wordpress.com)
- Kenyan warplanes bomb al Shabaab targets (worldbulletin.net)
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Aid agencies accused of paying thousands in ‘tax’ to al-Shabab during the famine of 2011 in Somalia
- The drought killed more than 250,000 people sparking major refugee crisis
- It was worsened by al-Shabab who banned some aid groups from helping
- In some cases they promised to pass on aid money but instead kept it
- The group even demanded ‘registration fees’ of up to $10,000 per agency
- Its plan was so complex it even set up ‘Humanitarian Co-ordination Office
Greed: Astonishingly, al-Shabab, which has links to al Qaeda, even demanded ‘registration fees’ of up to $10,000 per agency just to dole out much-needed supplies (pictured: al Shabab fighters train near Mogadishu)2
The terror group’s strategy of controlling and coercing humanitarian effort was so sophisticated that it even set up a command centre called the ‘Humanitarian Co-ordination Office’.
This raised further security concerns for agencies because it is forbidden under international law to engage with any terrorist group when providing aid to a country in need.
Starving: The devastating famine, brought on by drought, killed more than 250,000 people across the horn of Africa, sparking a major refugee crisis as crops withered and water dried up
Survivors: Exhausted, rail-thin women were stumbling into refugee camps on a daily basis, many with dead babies and bleeding feet
The report, by the Overseas Development Institute and the Mogadishu-based Heritage Institute for Policy Studies, also describes how al-Shabab gave people extra food if they spied on the aid groups.
Some agencies were banned outright by al-Shabab, including most UN agencies and the Red Cross, while others withdrew because of the demands.
Although the report did not say which agencies paid the ‘tax’ and which did not.
The United nations declared famine in Somalia in july 2011 after successive failed rains. Hundreds of thousands of Somalis fled to refugee camps in Kenya, Ethiopia and the Somali capital Mogadishu in search of food.
Ruthless: A young Somalian refugee walking past a children’s graveyard at the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya. The famine was exacerbated by al-Shabab, which has let few aid agencies into the area it controlled in south-central Mogadishu
Fighter: Government forces, with the help of 18,000 UN-mandated African Union soldiers, have driven al-Shabab fighters out of most of the country’s major towns and cities, but they still control swathes of rural Somalia
Exhausted, rail-thin women were stumbling into refugee camps with dead babies and bleeding feet.
The journeys sometimes took weeks, and weaker family members – children and the elderly – were left behind on the way to die alone.
The famine was exacerbated by the Somali militant group al-Shabab, which has let few aid agencies into the area it controls in south-central Mogadishu.
Government forces, with the help of 18,000 UN-mandated African Union soldiers, have driven al-Shabab fighters out of most of the country’s major towns and cities, but they still control swathes of rural Somalia.
source: Mail Online
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- Somalia – aid NGOs paid al Shabab (ambulivictor.wordpress.com)
- Somalia’s al-Shabab Revives, Renews Attacks (voanews.com)
- Aid agencies ‘paid Somalia’s al-Shabab’ during famine (arunbabyveranakunnel.wordpress.com)
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Genocide fear as rebels unleash a tide of death
THE battle for Africa was raging on two fronts last night with fears of a genocide and horrific accounts of human rights breaches sweeping through its heartlands.
Muslim fighters near the compound where 35 000 Christians are hiding in the Central African Republic
Mali and the Central African Republic have both been plunged into crisis by reprisal religious killings and reports of widespread executions, torture and rape.
In the Republic sectarian violence between Christians and Muslims is escalating so fast that there have been calls for a large-scale deployment of peacekeepers by the EU’s top humanitarian official.
Almost half a million people, a tenth of the country’s population, have fled since Muslim rebels ousted President Francois Bozize last spring.
Tit-for-tat murders are a daily threat, increasing fears of a full-scale civil war.
As many as 35,000 people are trying to avoid the violence by sheltering in a church compound the size of a football stadium in the town of Bossangoa.
In recent days leaders from both sides of the religious divide have tried to bring about a reconciliation but outside the compound the Muslim Seleka rebels are still a threat.
Portrait photographer Mathieu Marco gave a terrifying description of the violence being exacted by the rebels. Speaking from the entrance to the compound, Marco told how he escaped death when a Muslim militia commander stormed into his home by hiding in a shower.
The rebel screamed at Marco’s young son to reveal where he was hiding before walking back into the street and killing a 13-year-old neighbour.
“He killed him in cold blood, just like that. Pow! Pow!” said Marco.
He is desperate for intervention to end the bloodletting. “French soldiers or Americans or Asians…we just want peace.
“Seleka are just professional bandits. They have come here to plunder our nation. They must be chased away, that’s all.”
Outside the capital Bangui, Seleka violence has seen the rise of Christian militia known as the “anti-balaka”, meaning anti- machete.
This escalation only increases the endless cycle of attacks and reprisal killings.
EU aid chief Kristalina Georgieva warns that without a dramatic increase in the number of foreign peacekeepers the Central African Republic faces a Somalia-like state collapse and potential genocide.
A girl seeks protection from French soldiers in Mali where a truce with rebels has ended [AFP/GETTY]
She said: “Unless there is an immediate, significant change in security conditions, these two risks can deepen so much that we have a tragedy on our hands. And we’ll look back and say, ‘Why didn’t we act sooner?’”
A thousand miles to the north lies Mali, a country going through another bloody chapter in its recent wretched history.
Horrific accounts of killings, kidnappings, torture and rape emerged last night as Amnesty International demanded a wide-ranging investigation into the two years of violence committed by all parties, in particular the extra-judicial executions of at least 40 civilians and the disappearance of 32 others arrested by the security forces.
Amnesty warned there will never be lasting peace in this land-locked sub-Saharan country unless those responsible for the atrocities are brought to justice.
Yesterday, only days after free elections and months after French troops arrived to try to end the conflict, separatist Tuareg rebels said they were bringing to an end their five-month ceasefire with the Malian government, threatening another round of bitter fighting.
This and the murders of two French journalists by Islamic extremists have heightened fears of violence.
Amnesty’s secretary general Salil Shetty is in the country. Yesterday he said: “Few perpetrators have been held to account and there is little sign that they ever will be.
“Elections are an important step in establishing the rule of law but if the authorities really mean business they need to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators of unlawful killings, forced disappearances, torture and sexual abuse. The Malian population is deeply traumatised by the events of the past two years.
“Ensuring that all those responsible for human rights abuses face justice is key to achieving lasting peace. It is the only way to help the country turn this painful page in its history.”
Amnesty’s Salil Shetty has met many traumatised child soldiers [GETTY]
Amnesty is also demanding the release of five children held by the Mali authorities for more than seven months.
Secretary general Shetty has met the teenagers, aged between 15 and 17, in the military detention centre in Bamako.
One of the five is a child soldier who joined the Movement for Oneness and Jihad. The other four were arrested because of their suspected links to armed groups.
“We were horrified to see these traumatised young boys detained in poor conditions, along with adults,” said Shetty.
“This is a clear violation of national and international law and they must be released immediately.
“Children should rarely, if ever, be held in detention. In all actions concerning children the best interests of the child must be a primary consideration.”
source: 
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‘AL SHABAAB’: BIRMINGHAM IS OUR TOP RECRUITING GROUND!
Islamic terror group ‘Al Shabaab’ has made a statement saying that Birmingham is their top recruiting ground.
‘Al Shabaab’ have also boasted that their organisation has a respectable amount of “British” members.
Al Shabaab’ released a video last month telling their British members to carry out more attacks in the UK and to improvise their weapons, stating “a simple knife from B&Q will do.”
They also praised the killers of Lee Rigby and said the Woolwich attack was an eye for eye and more attacks would and should happen.
The video is in the hands of the police and the anti-terrorism forces.
But this message is loud and clear, ‘Al Shabaab’ is telling us that it’s here in the UK and here to stay!
Not only that, but one of our major cities is their top recruiting ground!
Something needs to be done, doors need to be coming off, before another attack on a soldier happens or another bomb plot is unleashed in our beloved country.
source : Britain First.
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Christian Shot Dead in Kenya for ‘Spreading Wrong Religion’
Two men armed with pistols shot Abdikhani Hassan seven times as he approached his home after closing his pharmacy in Kharkinley District on Oct. 20, his Muslim neighbor told a Morning Star News source. Hassan is survived by his wife, who is pregnant, and five children ranging in age from 3 to 12.
Before killing Hassan, one of the assailants told the neighbor, “We have information that Hassan is spreading wrong religion to our people, and we are looking for him,” the neighbor said.
“I got so frightened as the two young men left,” said the neighbor, whose identity is withheld for security reasons.
The unidentified attackers did not rob Hassan of anything.
Islamic extremists from the Al Shabaab rebel group have killed several Christians in the past few years, and although the group no longer controls Mogadishu, a few rebels hiding their militant identity remain in the capital, a source said.
“The men who murdered Abdikhani are suspected to be Al Shabaab militia, and the government is carrying out an investigation looking for the two killers,” he said.
Al Shabaab, the Somali cell of Al Qaeda, has vowed to rid Somalia of its Christians, who meet secretly in the country where apostasy, or leaving Islam, is punishable by death. The group is suspected of killing Fatuma Isak Elmi, 35, on Sept. 1 inside her home in Beledweyne, Hiran Province in south-central Somalia (see Morning Star News, Sept. 9). Her husband had received a threatening note that morning believed to be from the Islamic extremist group and was away at the time of the murder.
Al Shabaab’s attack on the upscale Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi, Kenya on Sept. 21 killed at least 67 people, with dozens still unaccounted for (see Morning Star News, Sept. 22).
On April 13, Al Shabaab militants shot Fartun Omar to death in Buulodbarde, 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Beledweyne (see Morning Star News, April 22). Omar was the widow of Mursal Isse Siad, killed for his faith on Dec. 8, 2012 in Beledweyne, 206 miles (332 kilometers) north of Mogadishu. He had been receiving death threats for leaving Islam (see Morning Star News, Dec. 14, 2012).
Siad and his wife, who converted to Christianity in 2000, had moved to Beledweyne from Doolow eight months before. The area was under government control and there was no indication that the killers belonged to the Al Shabaab rebels, but the Islamic extremist insurgents were present in Buulodbarde, and Christians believed a few Al Shabaab rebels could have been hiding in Beledweyne.
On June 7 in Jamaame District in southern Somalia, insurgents from the group shot 28-year-old Hassan Hurshe to death after identifying him as a Christian, sources said (see Morning Star News, June 20). Al Shabaab members brought Hurshe to a public place in the town of Jilib and shot him in the head, they said.
On Feb. 18, suspected Islamic extremists shot Ahmed Ali Jimale, a 42-year-old father of four, on the outskirts of the coastal city of Kismayo (see Morning Star News, Feb. 28).
In the coastal city of Barawa on Nov. 16, 2012, Al Shabaab militants killed a Christian after accusing him of being a spy and leaving Islam, Christian and Muslim witnesses said. The extremists beheaded 25-year-old Farhan Haji Mose after monitoring his movements for six months, sources said (see Morning Star News, Nov. 17, 2012).
Mose drew suspicion when he returned to Barawa, in the Lower Shebelle Region, in December 2011 after spending time in Kenya, according to underground Christians in Somalia. Kenya’s population is nearly 83 percent Christian, according to Operation World, while Somalia’s is close to 100 percent Muslim.
source: CP World
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Lampedusa Boat Victims: Covered in Petrol and Raped in Front of Their Tortured Husbands
Eritrean asylum seekers, whose boat sank off the Italian coast, claim their traffickers held them for ransom in Libya.
Somali 24-year old Mouhamaud Muhidin is shown in this picture released by Italian Police in Palermo
Italian police have arrested a Somali man accused of raping and torturing asylum seekers fleeing Libya on a boat which sank off the island of Lampedusa last month killing more than 365 migrants.
Mouhamud Elmi Muhidin, 34, faces charges of kidnapping, sexual assault, people trafficking and criminal association with the goal of aiding illegal immigration after he was identified by survivors.
Italian Police and Guardia Costiera (Coast Guard) officers carry an injured refugee as he arrives on the southern Italian island of Lampedusa April 6, 2011. More than 130 people were missing and at least 15 appeared to be dead after a boat carrying Eritrean and Somali refugees from Libya capsized south of Sicily.
Some 130 migrants from Eritrea told police they were held for ransom at a detention centre in the Libyan desert by people traffickers from Somalia, Libya and Sudan.
A 17-year-old Eritrean girl interviewed by police said: “They forced us to watch our men being tortured with various methods including batons, electric shocks to the feet; whoever rebelled was tied up.”
The migrants were forced to pay up to $3,500 (£2,180) for their freedom and their onward journey to the Libyan coast and a boat that was due to take them to Italy.
Those who survived the crossing are held at detention centres in Italy
“The women who could not pay were assaulted,” the girl said.
She also described in her own sexual assault, claiming Muhidin was one of three men who raped her.
“They threw me on the ground, held me down and poured fuel on my head. It burnt my hair, then my face, then my eyes.
“Then the three of them raped me without protection. After a quarter of an hour I was beaten and taken back to the house.”
Muhidin was arrested on Lampedusa after he was spotted by some of the survivors on the island. He has now been flown to Sicily where he faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted.
Italian police carries a Tunisian man suspected of being the driver of a migrant boat that sank off the coast of Lampedusa nearly a week ago as they arrives at Porto Empedocle
Investigators say he arrived on the island last week and had been staying in the local migrant centre, pretending to be one of the refugees.
“He was one of the leaders of the trafficking organisation,” a police spokeswoman said, adding that he may have come to Italy to look for criminal contacts.
Italian authorities have vowed to crack down on the people trafficking rings that have been behind the influx of more than 35,000 asylum seekers so far this year to the country’s coasts.
Most of them come from Eritrea, Somalia and Syria and Italy has asked for the European Union to step up assistance in dealing with the arrivals and countering the criminal networks behind them.
source: SKY NEWS
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Taskforce hunts for missing burka terror suspect
Police have released images of Mr Mohammed before and after he vanished from the mosque on Friday
A taskforce has been assembled to try to locate and catch a terror suspect who escaped from his government minders by disguising himself in a burka.
Mohammed Ahmed Mohamed, 27, who was subject to an order restricting his movements, left a London mosque on Friday with his face and body covered.
The Met Police’s Counter Terrorism Command, MI5 and the UK Border Agency are now joining forces to find him.
He is the second terror suspect under a so-called TPim order to go missing.
The terrorism prevention and investigation measures (TPim) have come under intense scrutiny since the Briton, who is of Somali origin, absconded from the mosque in Acton, west London.
His disappearance has caused acute embarrassment to the home secretary, who introduced the measures.
Three escape options
Mr Mohamed is believed to have close links to al-Shabab, the Somali insurgent group that raided Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall in September, resulting in 67 deaths, but officials say there was not enough evidence to bring a criminal case against him in court.
Within hours of Mr Mohamed’s disappearance, an alert to ports notice was issued.
Along with his photograph, it placed him on a Warnings Index Database.
Mr Mohamed’s photograph has been circulated to ports and borders
As UK Border Agency officers at Britain’s ports and airports are told to look out for the suspect, intelligence officers are working closely with the police to try to second-guess where he would be likely to go.
Assuming he is not planning to hand himself in, this is thought likely to come down to three broad choices.
First, it is thought he could lie low and stay in Britain.
Investigators are considering the probability that he will make contact with elements of the criminal underworld, although he may be wary of exploiting existing links.
To stay out of custody he will need a new, forged identity, but he still risks being recognised and having his whereabouts phoned in to the police by the public.
A second choice he has would be to flee Britain for East Africa.
If he can make it to Kenya there is a well-established secret pipeline used by al-Shabab associates to pass through the country on their way from Europe and the US to Somalia.
The Kenyan authorities may be able to apprehend him, but plenty of jihadist volunteers have used the porous Kenya-Somali border to slip through the net and join al-Shabab.
The UK government estimates there are still around 50 British jihadists training and fighting with al-Shabab in Somalia. That number is dwarfed by those heading to Syria to join al-Qaeda-linked groups there.
The third potential option under consideration is that Mr Mohamed could flee to Europe.
If he can assume a new identity then he may be able to assimilate himself into the Somali diaspora in a European country with a sizeable community, such as Norway.
But most Somalis do not want to be associated with al-Shabab and, with his picture so widely circulated, he could again be easily recognised.
Arrested if caught
The open judgement handed down by the High Court on his case last year said the security service assessed him as being linked to a group of six British nationals who received terrorist training from al-Qaeda operatives in Somalia in 2006.
The judgement says he also fought on the front line in Somalia in support of al-Shabab, and between 2008 and 2010 was “engaged in procuring weapons for use in furthering his terrorism-related activity”.
A Home Office spokesman confirmed that if the police do succeed in catching him, Mr Mohammed will be arrested, as breaching a TPim order is classed as a criminal offence.
The other Tpim absconder, named as Ibrahim Magag, escaped in a taxi on Boxing Day in 2012. He has never been caught.
source: BBC NEWS
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How to undermine Al-Shabaab
By Mohamed Ali, Special to CNN
Editor’s note: Mohamed Ali is the founder of the Iftiin Foundation, an organization that incubates social entrepreneurs and young leaders to encourage innovation in Somalia. He is also a New Voices Fellow at the Aspen Institute. The views expressed are his own.
As new footage emerges of gunmen chatting on cell phones and praying during their attack on an upscale Nairobi mall last month, many are still wondering how the group was able to lay siege to the building for four days, claiming almost 70 lives in the process.
But while understanding how the attack was orchestrated is important, the more pressing question should surely be why, despite international efforts to quell its power, Al-Shabaab is still able to recruit so many to its cause – including,reports suggest, foreign Somalis who grew up in the West? And why are many of those who participate in Al-Shabaab attacks young men? The answers to these questions could hold the key to undermining Al-Shabaab’s influence in the region.
Al-Shabaab, which means “youth” in Arabic, is aptly named – not because it is a youth movement (the group is led by older religious clerics) but because young people remain its greatest resource in a bloody campaign to impose radical Islam in the region. After all, it was a Mogadishu girl who walked into the home of her uncle, a Somali government minister, and detonated a suicide vest in 2011. I have also been repeatedly advised by Somali officials that attacks such as the one on a U.N. compound in June, regularly involve youths. And now, several young attackers who broke into the Westgate mall with guns and grenades have murdered dozens of men, women and children.
International organizations and foreign governments have taken a number of steps in targeting Al-Shabaab’s resources: a U.N. arms embargo has been implemented to try to stop guns entering the country, and the United States and Europe have introduced strict anti-terror financing laws to prevent remittance cash flows from being diverted to the group. A recent Somali government ban on charcoal exports has cut off a lucrative source of revenue.
However, little effort has been made to address what has been a far greater and more accessible resource than cash and guns for Al-Shabaab – Somali youth.
A large segment of the population in Somalia consists of unemployed, marginalized young people living in abject poverty. Almost three quarters of the population is under 30, with more than two-thirds of them unemployed. Many have never attended school and bear the psychological scars of 23 years of civil war and anarchy. This is Somalia’s lost generation – frustrated, uneducated and paralyzed by poverty, they become vulnerable to the promises of money, family, stability and structure that are offered by Al-Shabaab.
More from GPS: We are losing fight against Al-Shabaab
It begins innocently enough: a young man living in one of Mogadishu’s tent cities is offered a place to stay, a meal, money, a wife. They are recruited. Al-Shabaab begins to slowly and methodically strip away family ties, connections to friends, and other links a young person has to the outside world. They reform their belief system, establish emotional ties to group leaders who often serve as father figures, and mold them into fanatical soldiers of God devoted to a cause they are willing to die for.
Each new recruit is eventually given a new name, shedding their last tenuous link to their former life. Many family members never hear again from their sons and daughters, at least until their name is listed in the news as the perpetuator of a terrorist attack.
For those Somali youth in the diaspora, the story follows a slightly different narrative: a young immigrant, living in a low-income urban neighborhood, gets caught up with gangs, drugs or other crime. He feels isolated from a Somali community he shares little with other than ethnicity and religion. He is sometimes viewed as a foreigner. Recruiters may reach out through social media, and the young man might be enticed by the chance to reconnect somehow to a nation he does not know but still yearns for. Al-Shabaab’s goal is to make him feel understood. It may take many months, but he is eventually flown to Somalia. Finally, he begins the same systematic process of reeducation and radicalization as locals.
For these youth, there is no happy ending. If they stay with Al-Shabaab they can become pawns that are sacrificed by clerics in acts of terror. If they seek a way out of Al-Shabaab, they can expect to be killed if caught.
It should therefore be clear that Al-Shabaab will only be defeated when we collectively address what Somalia’s youth seek – exactly the same thing as many young people everywhere do, namely happiness and a connection to their traditions and family. They desire a future filled with opportunity, one filled with purpose and pride. And this can be provided through more targeted education, employment, and good health, all of which can better fortify them from opportunistic al-Shabaab recruiters.
Ultimately, of course, the key to defeating Al-Shabaab is the rebuilding of a country that has been war with itself for far too long. And while the allure of Al-Shabaab can lead our youth astray, it is the promise of these same young people that can make this change happen.
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US forces seize Al-Qaeda leader in Libya: Second successful Operation.
A U.S. official says American forces have captured an al-Qaida leader in Libya who is linked to the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in east Africa.
The official identifies the leader as Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai, known by his alias Anas al-Libi. He has been wanted by the U.S. for more than a decade.
Relatives of al-Libi say he was seized outside his house Saturday in the Libyan capital of Tripoli.
The U.S. official says there have been no U.S. casualties in the operation. The official was not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity.
Al-Libi has been high on Washington’s list of most-wanted fugitives. His capture would represent a significant blow to what remains of the core al-Qaida organization once led by Osama bin Laden.
TWO SUCCESSFUL RAIDS BY U.S. FORCES
US forces carried out two major operations in Africa on Saturday, targeting an al-Shabaab leader in Somalia in connection with the recent Nairobi mall siege and nabbing an Al-Qaeda leader in Libya wanted for the 1998 bombings of US embassies.
The SEAL team approached the seaside house in the Somali town of Baraawe before sunrise and fired on an unidentified target, reportedly killing the al-Shabaab leader. The SEALs were forced to withdraw before the killing could be confirmed, The New York Times quoted a senior American official as saying.
The raid was reportedly in response to the recent deadly attack on a Nairobi shopping mall which killed more than 60 people. Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the siege.
“The Baraawe raid was planned a week and a half ago,” the American security official stated. “It was prompted by the Westgate attack,” the official added referring to the Nairobi mall.
Reuters also reported the raid, citing a government official.
The firefight lasted over an hour and helicopters were called in for support, according to witnesses.
The Somali government was warned ahead of time about the attack, a senior Somali official confirmed.
The militant group’s spokesperson said that one of al-Shabaab’s fighters had been killed, but that the group had won back the assault. US official first reported that the leader of the group had been seized, but later retracted the statement.
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Navy SEALs capture terror suspect linked to Kenya mall massacre in daring raid on Somalia
- American officials have announced the capture of an unidentified official of the al Shabab terrorist organization
- The terrorist was seized in an early morning raid at the beachfront house in Baraawe, Somalia where al Shabab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane was last known to be living
- Al Shabab confirmed the attack, saying one of their fighters had been killed but that they had pushed back the SEALs
- American officials would not say whether the official had been taken dead or alive
A Navy SEAL team has launched a daring raid on Somalia and captured a top terror leader linked to last month’s Kenya mall attack.
Special Forces troops from the elite unit attacked the town of Baraawe and seized one as yet unidentified enemy fighter.
The town of Baraawe was the last known home of Ahmed Abdi Godane . He is the leader of al Shabab, the terror group that claimed responsibility for the attack on a mall in Nairobi that killed 69 people between September 21 and 24.
Captured: U.S. officials announced the capture of a yet-to-be-identified senior member of the al Shabab militant group in Somalia this morning. The group’s leader Ahmed Abi Godane, above, was last known to be living at the compound raided
American officials and sources representing al Shabab both confirmed the fight.
‘The Baraawe raid was planned a week and a half ago,’ an anonymous American security official told the New York Times. ‘It was prompted by the Westgate attack.’
The SEALs attacked a beachfront house where high-level members of al Shabab were known to stay.
A Somalian intelligence official said the targets of the raid were several ‘high-profile’ foreigners staying in the house.
They attacked before dawn and used silencers, but it soon turned into a loud firefight as the Somali combatants engaged.
A witness said that 12 Shabab fighters were staying there at the time of the assault before heading to a mission abroad. The fight last 10 to 15 minutes.
Uncertain: American officials would not say whether the al Shabab official was apprehended dead or alive. Above, a stock image of Navy SEALs
Uncertain: American officials would not say whether the al Shabab official was apprehended dead or alive. Above, a stock image of Navy SEALs
After the fight, an al Shabab spokesman said it was British and Turkish forces who raided the home, but both countries quickly denied their involvement.
They added that one of their fighters had been killed in the raid but that they were able to beat back the soldiers.
‘Westerners in boats attacked our base at Baraawe beach and one was martyred from our side,” an al-Shabaab spokesman told Reuters. ‘No planes or helicopters took part in the fight. The attackers left weapons, medicine and stains of blood, we chased them.’
The SEAL team attacked a beachfront house in the coastal town of Baraawe, which was the last known home of the leader of al Shabab
The SEAL team attacked a beachfront house in the coastal town of Baraawe, which was the last known home of the leader of al Shabab
The American sources would not say whether the al Shabab senior official apprehended was taken dead or alive.
This was the first publicly-announced raid by U.S. special ops in Somalia since the rescue of twocharity workers from the country in January 2012, after they had been kidnapped by Somali pirates and held hostage for three months.
More than 60 people were killed in the dangerous attack last week at the Westgate mall in Nairobi Kenya.
The terrorists stormed the Westgate Mall and sprayed shoppers with bullets. Witnesses said the attackers told all Muslims to leave as they were only after non-Muslims.
Those shoppers who tried to leave were asked by the terrorists to name the Prophet Mohammed’s mother. If they failed to give her correct name of Amina they were shot dead, said one eye witness.
After Muslim shoppers had left the mall, the terrorists reportedly threw grenades and fired AK-47s.
The attack continued for three days since the perpetrators holed up and defended themselves inside the mall.
Kenyan attack: Surveillance footage from the Westgate Mall shows one of the terrorists involved in the attack that killed 60 shoppers last month
Responsible: Somalian-based terrorist organization al Shabab took credit for the attack while it was going on
Source : Mail Online
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Executed as she talked to her mother on the phone: Fate of 16-year-old victim of Kenyan mall massacre as it emerges terrorists shot some children five times
- Gunmen targeted 30 children who were taking part in a cooking event
- As many as 30 hostages were taken by the Al Shabaab terrorists
- Sources said militants hurled a severed hand and head from a balcony
- The Kenyan military didn’t believe the hostages would survive their ordeal
Children as young as five were shot up to five times by the terrorists that carried out the Westgate mall massacre, it has emerged.
The attack, carried out last week by gunmen from Somalia-based terrorist group Al Shabaab, left 67 people dead, including six Britons.
New accounts of the extremists’ merciless assault reveal for the first time the fate of some of the 30 children who attended a cooking event at the mall. Some of them were as young as 12.
Response team: A grab from a video made available on Saturday September 28 showing an armed undercover police officer guarding a stairwell approaching the scene of the terror attack
Brave: An armed undercover police officer, left, and head of Westgate security (no name available), right, approach the terrorists
Rescued: Undercover police officers and police with guns asking shoppers caught up in the incident to leave with their hands up as they crouch on the ground for cover
Escape: A young girl runs from a store in Westgate, beckoned on by officials and shoppers
One girl at the event, 16-year-old Nehal Vekariya, was shot through the eye, according to The Sunday Times.
The paper reports her father’s final phone conversation with her.
He said: ‘She said “I’m okay, I’m with friends, call Mummy fast and tell her I’m okay”.’
When her mother called her she heard yelling and then gunshots, then the line went dead. She had been cut down at close range.
The paper also reports that witnesses describe children as young as five being hit up to five times by the terrorists, as they roamed the mall looking for victims.
A soldier carries a child to safety as armed police hunt the gunmen who went on a brutal shooting spree at Westgate shopping centre in Nairobi on September 21
Memorial: A soldier from the Kenya Defence Forces salutes while another pays his respects as they and other Kenyans came to light candles, sing and pray,to mark one week since the terrorist attack
Solemn: A Kenyan girl lights a candle to pay her respects to those killed in the Westgate mall massacre
Mitul Shah, 38, meanwhile, a London-born father of one caught up in the siege, was hailed a ‘hero and a star’ for reportedly offering hicmself as a hostage to allow children to escape from militants.
According to The Sunday Times, one of the gunmen told victims: ‘You didn’t spare our women and children. Why should we spare yours?’
Firefighters, police and soldiers were faced with horrific scenes when they entered the mall.
One firefighter told the paper how he was sent in to put out a fire in the CCTV control room, started by rocket-propelled grenades that were fired by soldiers.
He heard screaming from a balcony, then gunshots, then saw blood dripping from above. Some security men were crying, he said. Then a severed hand and a head wrapped in cloth landed on the floor next to them.
A Western security official told The Sunday Times: ‘They were saying to the troops, “If you come any closer we will execute a hostage”.’
The extremists had piled dead bodies up against the doors to hinder their progress.
It’s understood from intelligence sources that the Kenyan military deliberately caved in the top floor car park to kill them, on the assumption that if the hostages weren’t already dead, they soon would be.
Al Shabaab was making proclamations on social media that they weren’t willing to negotiate.
As many as 30 hostages were taken by the terrorists according to the British High Commission, with many of them still unaccounted for.
A British SAS unit was on standby to help the Kenyan military, but they weren’t called in.
Eight suspects are being held over the attack according to Kenya’s Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku said. Three others who had been detained were released. At least five attackers also were killed.
Destroyed: Vehicles are seen in the rubble in the destruction at the Westgate Shopping Centre
However, there are fears that some of the extremists, including suspected British terrorists Samantha Lewthwaite, may be on the loose, having escaped through the city’s drainage system.
A unnamed source told The Sun on Sunday: ‘It may have been a way out for some of the terrorists. They could have escaped like sewer rats.’
On Saturday leaked intelligence briefings revealed that the Kenyan government had been warned some months ago Al Shabaab was planning an attack in Nairobi between September 13 and 21.
One report named suspected terrorists in Nairobi who were ‘planning to mount suicide attacks on an undisclosed date, targeting Westgate Mall’ and a cathedral.
Mutea Iringo, principal secretary in the Ministry of Interior, said: ‘Every day we get intelligence and action is taken as per that intelligence and many attacks averted. But the fact that you get the intelligence does not mean something cannot happen.
‘What we are saying is that we are at war, and that every day some young Kenyan is being radicalised by al Shabaab to kill Kenyans.’
The murderous attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Kenya has brought home the need for ‘permanent vigilance’ against terrorism in the UK, Prime Minister David Cameron said today.
Mr Cameron said he had no intelligence of plans for an ‘imminent’ attack in Britain but acknowledged that there was a ‘worry’ that British-based Somalis trained by the extremist Al-Shabaab group in the east African country might return to the UK with the intention of committing outrages.
He said that he had chaired meetings of the Government’s Cobra emergency contingency committee over the past week to discuss the implications of the Westgate attack.
Contingency plans have already been put in place in the period following the similar attacks in Mumbai, India, in 2008, he said.
Mr Cameron told BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show: ‘We have been looking at this for a long time because of the appalling attack that happened in Mumbai in India.
‘I have personally chaired a whole series of meetings years ago, but again actually this week, to check that we have got everything in place to prepare for those sorts of attacks.
‘We don’t have intelligence that something is about to happen, but it pays to be very, very prepared, very, very cautious, and to work out we have everything in place we can to deal with awful events like this.’
Asked whether he was concerned that British-based Somalis might export terror from the African state to the UK, Mr Cameron said: ‘There is always a worry of that and there is a hotbed of terrorism in Somalia that spills over into other countries, and we are concerned about that and follow that.
‘What it shows I think is that we have to keep going against Islamist extremism, whether that is people that are home-grown in our own country or whether it is extremism that is fomenting either on the Horn of Africa or in West Africa or in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
‘It goes to this whole argument about why we need well-funded intelligence services, why we need to be engaged in the world, we need to share intelligence with others and why we have to be permanently vigilant.
‘I take these responsibilities incredibly seriously, I chair the Cobra meetings myself and I make sure that everything from ambulance to fire to police, that everything is prepared.
‘We don’t have intelligence about anything imminent, but of course when that Mumbai attack happened and you see what happened in Kenya, any responsible government would look at its own processes and procedures, and say how would we cope with something like that?’
source: Mail Online
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- ‘Heroic’ British father gave his life as hostage to save group of children in Nairobi mall massacre (news.nationalpost.com)
- Mall Attack Whistleblowers (aangirfan.blogspot.com)
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- Don’t Disregard Religious Factor in Kenyan Mall Attack, Say Experts on Radical Islam (cpnagasaki.wordpress.com)
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Don’t Disregard Religious Factor in Kenyan Mall Attack, Say Experts on Radical Islam
Al-Shabab fighters stand in formation during military exercises on the outskirts of Mogadishu, Somalia. (AP Photo/Mohamed Sheikh Nor, File)
(CNSNews.com) – As forensic experts continue to examine the site of al-Shabaab’s Kenyan mall attack, some experts on radical Islam are warning that as long as Western leaders deny the true Islamic agenda driving the group, they will be unable to protect their citizens from its deadly terror campaign.
Identifying religious ideology as key factor in the terrorism is not the same as suggesting that the terrorists represent all Muslims or that all Muslims should be held responsible, they argue – but denying it is specious and self-defeating.
At least 67 people were killed during the four-day hostage crisis which began when more than a dozen gunmen seized control of Nairobi’s upscale Westgate mall.
After the siege ended, al-Shabaab fighters carried out further attacks in two towns along the Kenya-Somalia border, killing at least three people, including two police officers, the Associated Press reported.
In messages posted online during the mall attack, Al-Shabaab, the al-Qaeda-affiliated Somali group, said it was reprisal for the presence of Kenyan troops in Somalia. They were deployed there in late 2011 after a series of attacks by al-Shabaab fighters who crossed into Kenya to kidnap and kill foreign aid workers and tourists.
African Union peacekeepers take aim in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu.
But al-Shabaab’s Islamist ideology was also clearly evident during the crisis. Survivors recounted incidents in which gunmen asked hostages questions to determine their religion, with Muslims – or those pretending to be – allowed to leave safely.
In a later email exchange with the Associated Press, an al-Shabaab spokesman stated, “The mujahedeen [Islamic holy warriors] carried out a meticulous vetting process at the mall and have taken every possible precaution to separate the Muslims from the Kuffar [infidels] before carrying out their attack.”
Al-Shabaab spokesmen also revealed their religious focus in some Internet postings, for instance identifying those surrounding the mall not as Kenyan security forces but as “Christians.”
“We authorize the mujahedeen [Islamic holy warriors] inside the building to take actions against the prisoners as much as they are pressed,” terrorist spokesman Ali Mohamud Rage said in a statement posted online two days into the siege. “We are telling Christians advancing onto the mujahedeen to have mercy for their prisoners who will bear the brunt of any force directed against the mujahedeen.”
“As far as al-Shabaab is concerned, this is a religious war,” Patrick Sookhdeo, international director of Barnabas Fund and director of the non-profit Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity, said on Thursday.
“The statements of those caught up in the shopping center siege make it clear that this was not purely a retaliatory attack over territory,” he wrote in an editorial. “Hostages were lined up by the militants and questioned about their religion; they were asked to name Mohammed’s mother, quote verses from the Qur’an or recite the Islamic creed. Those who could were let go, those who could not – or would not – were killed.
“The defense of their strict and puritanical brand of Islam, Salafi-Wahhabism, is at the heart of al-Shabaab’s killing spree at Westgate, as it is the driving force behind their activities in Somalia and elsewhere.”
In their responses to the attack Western governments tended to avoid any reference to the terrorist’ religion.
Secretary of State John Kerry referred to “perpetrators of this abhorrent violence” and the need to “reaffirm our determination to counter extremism,” while National Security Council spokesperson Caitlin Hayde referred to “the perpetrators of this heinous act” and “efforts to confront terrorism in all its forms, including the threat posed by al-Shabaab.”
The French presidency spoke of “a terrorist attack” and “a heinous act” without mentioning the perpetrators. Germany’s foreign minister spoke of “terrorists” while his Norwegian counterpart referred to “the Somali terrorist organization al-Shabaab” and the “the fight against international terrorism.”
One Western leader went further, arguing that there was no link between the incident and the group’s religious ideology.
“These appalling terrorist attacks that take place where the perpetrators claim they do it in the name of a religion – they don’t,” said British Prime Minister David Cameron. “They do it in the name of terror, violence and extremism and their warped view of the world. They don’t represent Islam or Muslims in Britain or anywhere else in the world.”
Christians in the firing line
Sookhdeo recalled previous al-Shabaab attacks targeting Christians in Kenya. Last February terrorists shot dead a Somali Christian pastor and injured another in Garissa, about 100 miles from the Somalia border.
In July 2012, al-Shabaab launched a coordinated attack on two Garissa churches during Sunday services, killing 17 people and injuring more than 60. In October, a nine year-old boy was killed and several other children injured when a hand grenade was thrown into a Nairobi Sunday school class; police blamed “al-Shabaab sympathizers.”
Al-Shabaab fighters conduct military exercises in northern Mogadishu, Somalia in October 2010. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh, File)
“While world leaders continue to fail to understand, or perhaps accept, the ideological basis within Islam for acts of violence, they will never get to grips with the likes of al-Shabaab,” Sookhdeo said, pointing to Cameron’s remarks.
“To say that ‘they don’t represent Islam or Muslims in Britain or anywhere else in the world’ is flagrantly untrue. While they clearly do not represent the Muslim majority, al-Shabaab, along with countless Islamic terrorist groups that are rising up and gaining recruits around the world, are striving to observe and impose the teachings of the Quran and the hadith (the traditions about Muhammad) in their most absolute sense.”
Recalling warnings by British security chiefs about the risk that Britons taking part in the Somalia jihad could return home and carry out attacks there, Sookhdeo said if such warnings are to be heeded “al-Shabaab needs to be properly understood.”
“For as long as David Cameron and other Western leaders deny the group’s true agenda, they will fail to protect us all from their deadly campaign.”
‘A very pronounced religious ideology’
Douglas Murray, associate director of the Henry Jackson Society, a London-based think tank, also challenged Cameron’s comments.
“I don’t think any sensible person would argue that the perpetrators represent all Muslims. But it seems strange to say that a separation of people – and massacre of them – based solely on their religious identity can be said to have nothing to do with religion,” he wrote in The Spectator. Murray founded the Center for Social Cohesion, a think tank focusing on extremism and terrorism in Britain.
In a column in the same publication British journalist Melanie McDonagh wrote, “If the Prime Minister had merely observed that the actions of the Kenyan jihadists are abhorrent to the great majority of Muslims and certainly the great majority of British Muslims, no one would have disagreed.
“But to say that al-Shabaab and its representatives in the Westgate shopping mall don’t represent Muslims or Islam anywhere in the world is simply untrue and if we try to deal with jihadis on the basis that they are unspecified extremists rather than people with a very pronounced religious ideology, it’s not really adding to our understanding of what has happened or our ability to prevent something similar happening here.”
source: cnsnews.com
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- Ethiopia could face “large-scale” attacks from Somalia’s al-Shabaab: opposition (sudantribune.com)
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Somalia: Al-Shabab remains a potent threat
The BBC’s Mark Doyle spent time on armoured patrol with African Union peacekeepers in Kismayo
Somalia‘s al-Shabab militants have said they carried out the attack on a Nairobi shopping centre in “retribution” for Kenya‘s efforts to help the Somali government. Kenyan troops are part of the African Union force in the country. Despite losing ground, al-Shabab remains a potent threat as the BBC’s Mark Doyle reports from Kismayo – once the group’s main base.
On a bright, moonlit night at Kismayo airport, the crack-and-whizz of high-velocity bullets suddenly pierces the silence.
“Incoming fire!” someone shouts.
The “crack-whizz” then gives way to the deeper “thud-thud-thud” of the airport defender’s heavy machine guns.
It is probably an attack by the Islamist al-Shabab militia.
Defending the airport are troops of the African Union force in Somalia, Amisom.
I carefully climb up to a high position and see a light a kilometre or two away to the south. It looks like car headlights rising and falling on a bumpy track.
Then the mortars start: “crump-whoosh, crump-whoosh”. Definitely outgoing fire. Possibly towards that moving light.
Then suddenly silence returns.
It was an interesting few minutes. But it was the symptom, not the cause.
If you want to understand Somalia, Dr Abdisamad Abubacar Haji of the Kismayo General Hospital is a useful person to meet.
“Our main issue is not a lack of drugs,” Dr Haji says, blowing away the usual story of poverty and shortages I was expecting at the run-down hospital.
“No, the main problem here is security. It is sometimes difficult to treat your patient because he might kill you.”
I was in a hospital ward with rough concrete walls and beds without proper sheets. The dirty windows allowed in only a little light.
The ward was full of patients with blast- or bullet-wounds from a car-bomb assassination attempt a couple of weeks ago.
On one bed was a man whose legs had been shattered by the explosion. He was wired up all along his body in a primitive splint. I doubt he will ever walk properly again.
The target of the attack was warlord Ahmed Madobe, the leader of the region around Kismayo, known as Jubaland.
Ahmed Madobe is the head of the Ras Kamboni militia in the Kismayo areaMr Madobe survived the attack; he was reportedly in a bullet-proof car. More than 20 other people were killed.
The death toll remains vague as the medics could not account for all of the pieces of flesh they gathered at the scene.
Dr Haji’s “problem”, as he delicately put it, was when he conducts the triage of incoming wounded.
“When you have so many people to treat,” the wiry, bearded Dr Haji says, “they are all shouting ‘Treat me first! Treat me first!’
“But we are doctors and our training tells us we must treat the most serious cases first. So whoever we judge should be second or third in line might get angry and attack us – or even kill us.”
Absence of aid
We left the hospital in a heavily armoured African Union convoy, with soldiers from the West African state of Sierra Leone.
Scene at a camp for internally displaced people on the edge of KismayoIt is not possible for foreigners – or even, often, Somalis – to travel safely without armed guards. The possibility of kidnap or roadside bombs is very real.
We arrived on the edge of Kismayo, at a camp for people made homeless by the war – refugees in their own country.
You can find these all over Somalia. Here, there was no sign whatsoever of any aid agencies helping.
Children played in the twisted carcass of what was once a car sat on a mound of rubbish.
International aid organisations were not seen at the campThe people lived in shacks made of sticks and plastic bags. The lucky ones have the odd corrugated iron sheet.
Moussa Ali, who lives in this filthy camp, used to be a farmer near the town of Djilib, north of Kismayo.
He was well-off by Somali standards.
“I had a seven-roomed house and a 20 hectare plot. I grew sesame seeds, beans and mangoes,” he says.
But he abandoned all this because of what he said was the unbearable oppression of living under al-Shabab.
“They wouldn’t let my girls go to school,” he says.
“Every time I made a bit of money they made me give them half in Zakawat (tax for their cause). If I refused, they threatened to kill me.”
Troop shortfall
Somalia has suffered for decades from a proliferation of firearms and deep-seated clan animosities.
Somalia doesn’t have “tribes” like the rest of Africa. Everyone here is “ethnic Somali”.
So instead their forum for disputes is the clan.
Defending the airport are troops of the African Union force in Somalia, Amisom.
I carefully climb up to a high position and see a light a kilometre or two away to the south. It looks like car headlights rising and falling on a bumpy track.
Then the mortars start: “crump-whoosh, crump-whoosh”. Definitely outgoing fire. Possibly towards that moving light.
Then suddenly silence returns.
It was an interesting few minutes. But it was the symptom, not the cause.
If you want to understand Somalia, Dr Abdisamad Abubacar Haji of the Kismayo General Hospital is a useful person to meet.
“Our main issue is not a lack of drugs,” Dr Haji says, blowing away the usual story of poverty and shortages I was expecting at the run-down hospital.
“No, the main problem here is security. It is sometimes difficult to treat your patient because he might kill you.”
I was in a hospital ward with rough concrete walls and beds without proper sheets. The dirty windows allowed in only a little light.
The ward was full of patients with blast- or bullet-wounds from a car-bomb assassination attempt a couple of weeks ago.
On one bed was a man whose legs had been shattered by the explosion. He was wired up all along his body in a primitive splint. I doubt he will ever walk properly again.
The target of the attack was warlord Ahmed Madobe, the leader of the region around Kismayo, known as Jubaland.
Ahmed Madobe is the head of the Ras Kamboni militia in the Kismayo areaMr Madobe survived the attack; he was reportedly in a bullet-proof car. More than 20 other people were killed.
The death toll remains vague as the medics could not account for all of the pieces of flesh they gathered at the scene.
Dr Haji’s “problem”, as he delicately put it, was when he conducts the triage of incoming wounded.
“When you have so many people to treat,” the wiry, bearded Dr Haji says, “they are all shouting ‘Treat me first! Treat me first!’
“But we are doctors and our training tells us we must treat the most serious cases first. So whoever we judge should be second or third in line might get angry and attack us – or even kill us.”
Absence of aid
We left the hospital in a heavily armoured African Union convoy, with soldiers from the West African state of Sierra Leone.
Scene at a camp for internally displaced people on the edge of KismayoIt is not possible for foreigners – or even, often, Somalis – to travel safely without armed guards. The possibility of kidnap or roadside bombs is very real.
We arrived on the edge of Kismayo, at a camp for people made homeless by the war – refugees in their own country.
You can find these all over Somalia. Here, there was no sign whatsoever of any aid agencies helping.
Children played in the twisted carcass of what was once a car sat on a mound of rubbish.
International aid organisations were not seen at the campThe people lived in shacks made of sticks and plastic bags. The lucky ones have the odd corrugated iron sheet.
Moussa Ali, who lives in this filthy camp, used to be a farmer near the town of Djilib, north of Kismayo.
He was well-off by Somali standards.
“I had a seven-roomed house and a 20 hectare plot. I grew sesame seeds, beans and mangoes,” he says.
But he abandoned all this because of what he said was the unbearable oppression of living under al-Shabab.
“They wouldn’t let my girls go to school,” he says.
“Every time I made a bit of money they made me give them half in Zakawat (tax for their cause). If I refused, they threatened to kill me.”
Troop shortfall
Somalia has suffered for decades from a proliferation of firearms and deep-seated clan animosities.
Somalia doesn’t have “tribes” like the rest of Africa. Everyone here is “ethnic Somali”.
So instead their forum for disputes is the clan.
In southern Somalia, the main current dispute is between the Ogadeni and Marehan sub-clans.
But it has been overshadowed and internationalised by al-Shabab, which has exploited the latent clan warfare and taken control of about half of southern and central of Somalia.
Enter, in 2007, Amisom – the 17,000-strong African Union Mission in Somalia – made up of soldiers from several African nations.
Amisom is paid for by Western countries because they do not want another Afghanistan. Al-Shabab is allied to al-Qaeda.
The thoughtful and bespectacled Brigadier Antony Ngere is the Kenyan commander of Amisom’s southern sector.
In 2009 and 2010 Kenya suffered attacks and kidnappings originating from across the border in Somalia.
“The Kenyan army is in Somalia to check and, if possible, eliminate al-Shabab”, Brig Ngere tells me.
“We have liberated important parts of the south and could do more – but we lack enough troops or equipment”.
I put it to Brig Ngere that Kenya was in fact more interested in protecting its own border – and potentially creating a useful buffer state in southern Somalia under the leadership of Ahmed Madobe – than it was in bringing peace to the whole country.
“That is not true”, he says. “We do have a very long border with Somalia, which we have to protect. But we are not creating any buffer state.
“We need the international community – the aid organisations – to come to the aid of the suffering Somali people,” says Brig Ngere.
I did not personally see a single foreign aid worker operating on the ground in Kismayo.
“We are in control of Kismayo. Now we plead with the aid agencies to come and help.”
Many camps for the displaced have no running water and no electricitySomalia: Failed State
Two decades of anarchy
Islamist purgeWatch/Listen
Somalia ‘moving in the right direction’Background
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Kenya: ‘White Widow’ Briton Linked To Attack
The widow of a 7/7 bomber,who is a wanted terror suspect herself,may be involved in plotting the Nairobi attack,a report says:
Samantha Lewthwaite is wanted over links to a suspected terror cell
The Foreign Office is investigating claims that a female British terror suspect known as the White Widow could be linked to the shopping centre massacre in Kenya.
A white woman wearing a veil was reportedly spotted shouting orders to gunmen in Arabic during the attack on the Westgate complex in Nairobi.
Some reports have suggested that it is Samantha Lewthwaite, the English widow of 7/7 bomber Jermaine Lindsay.
She is wanted by Kenyan police over links to a suspected terrorist cell.
In March 2012 it was reported that Lewthwaite, 29, who is originally from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, had fled across the border from Kenya to Somalia.
Sky News’ Chief Correspondent Stuart Ramsay said: “I saw a picture of a white woman wearing a balaclava and carrying a weapon.
“We know that she’d been in the area. She has been linked to a number of attacks in east Africa and they have been trying to capture her.
“It is difficult to know whether or not it is her.”
However a commander of the group believed to be behind the attack has reportedly denied that any of militants are from the UK or US.
Some 68 people were killed in the attack, including three Britons.
The Foreign Office has said it expects the number of British fatalities to rise.
- source: Sky News
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- Intelligence officials investigating whether terrorist widow of London bomber was involved in Kenya attack (news.nationalpost.com)
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Young Sikh Boy Slaughtered In Cold Blood In Muslim Terror Attack On Nairobi Shopping Mall
This is Pavraj Singh Ghataurhae (17 years old).He was murdered in a terrorist attack by muslim terrorists in Nairobi Kenya 21st September
He was pulled to one side and then murdered by Al Shabab terrorists. The islamic terrorist group made it very clear that they were going to murder all NON-MUSLIMS!
Pavraj is one of the British nationals killed in this barbaric attack, simply because he was a non-Muslim.
Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone who lost their lives today in this senseless tragedy…..
The Sikh EDL Admins.
NAIROBI, KENYA (September 22, 2013)—A Sikh youth named Pavraj ‘Pablo’ Singh Ghataurhae has been reported as one of the victims killed by al Qaeda linked Somalian terrorist group al-Shabab during their attack on Westgate Mall in Nairobi Kenya today.
Armed gunmen faced off with Kenyan police and soldiers inside an upscale Nairobi shopping mall early Sunday, hours after brazenly gunning down shoppers, diners and more. On Saturday afternoon, the terrorists had freed all Muslims and began killing the non-Muslims present.
Satpal Singh, 36, another Sikh who was in a cafe on the mall’s top floor, said he ran downstairs when he heard the gunfire and was shot at near the mall’s main exit.
“A Somali guy shot at me. The guy who shot me was carrying a rifle, an AK-47.”
39 people, including Pavraj Singh, women, and other children were declared dead while another 293 people were injured.
Shocked people could be seen running away from the Westgate centre clutching children, while others crawled along walls to avoid bullets. “The gunmen tried to fire at my head but missed. At least 50 people were shot. There are definitely many casualties,” mall employee Sudjar Singh said.
“I saw a young boy carried out on a shopping cart, it looked like he was about five or six. It looked like he was already dead, he was not moving or making any noise.”
Vehicles riddled with bullet holes were left abandoned in front of the mall as police instructed local residents to stay away.
Standoff at Kenya mall continues * videos * | ~~Defender of Faith~Guardian of Truth~~
~~Defender of Faith~Guardian of Truth~~ 