Free Republic

Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, the first former Guantánamo Bay camp detainee to be tried in the civilian court system, was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday for his role in the 1998 bombings of two United States Embassies in East Africa. The nearly simultaneous attacks in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killed 224 people and wounded thousands. Mr. Ghailani, 36, was convicted on Nov. 17 of a single count of conspiracy to destroy government buildings and property, while being acquitted of more than 280 charges of murder and conspiracy. But the many acquittals seemed to carry little weight...

Somalis Say Militant 'Commander' Killed In Street Battle Had US Papers An American member of an al Qaeda-connected terror group has been killed in fighting in Somalia, according to intelligence and government officials there. The fighter, a Somali-American man known as Dahir Gurey Sheikh Ali Guled, was found dead in Mogadishu after a street battle between the militant group, Al Shabab, and pro-government forces. A US official told ABC News that Gurey was believed to be an American citizen who arrived in Somalia earlier this year, but cautioned that the US government has not independently confirmed Mr. Gurey's death or...

The Islamists have it wrong: Islam isn't the world's fast est-growing religion. By birth numbers and convert tallies, it's Christianity. And Africa's at the forefront -- a fact that going to body-slam Muslim extremists sooner or later. The bombings that recently butchered World Cup fans in Uganda were just the latest in a long line of crazed attacks on African Christians by Islamist fanatics. In the central states of Nigeria -- Africa's most-populous country -- religious pogroms and counter-pogroms between Muslims and Christians have become routine. In Kenya, al Shabaab terrorists from neighboring Somalia stir up trouble and make grotesque...

Federal authorities have arrested a Virginia man for allegedly helping hundreds of Somalis, possibly including ones with terrorist ties, enter the United States illegally. Anthony Joseph Tracy, 35, was arrested earlier this month, after admitting to U.S. authorities that he helped about 272 citizens of war-torn Somalia come to the United States illegally, according to documents filed in federal court. Tracy allegedly set up a business in Kenya, Noor Services Limited, that procured fraudulent Cuban travel visas for Somalis, who would then travel from Kenya to Cuba and, ultimately, to the United States, according to court documents. He allegedly traveled...

The US spy chief, Mr. Leon Edward Panetta, left Kenya on Sunday after a four-day visit during which he is said to have held talks with President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, The Standard daily reported here on Monday. Panetta, who is the Director of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the world's leading spying agency, arrived in Kenya a day before controversial Muslim cleric, Sheikh Abdullah Faisal, was secretly put on a chartered South African gulfstream jet and deported to his native country. However, the police were said to reluctant to link the spymaster's presence in the country to...

President Barack Obama says he has no intention of sending American troops to Yemen or Somalia, but won't rule out the possibility.

SNIPPET: "An al Qaeda leader wanted by the US for a string of deadly attacks has been named the new leader of terror group's network in East Africa. Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, one of several al Qaeda leaders charged with carrying out the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, was appointed the leader of al Qaeda in the Horn of Africa. Fazul was "inaugurated" during an open ceremony in the southern city of Kismayo, according to a translation received by The Long War Journal of an article posted Waaga Cusub, a website operated by the Hawiye clan,...

Libya releases 88 terrorists with al-Qaeda ties Well, hey, if Scotland can release murderous terrorists to Libya, Libya can certainly do the same, right? Moammar Ghaddafi’s son, the same man who gave Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi a hero’s welcome when he landed in Tripoli after serving just 11 days for every victim of his attack on Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, arranged for the release of 88 terrorists linked to al-Qaeda through his Islamic Foundation: Libya on Thursday freed 88 Islamists with Al-Qaeda links from Abu Slim prison in Tripoli, an AFP correspondent at the scene reported. “45 members of...

Tired of fighting, and largely losing, against the US in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Somalia, a group of Somali terrorists devised a strategy to take on the superpower in South Africa...the US's closure of its offices in the country was because of intercepted cellphone communication detailing planned attacks on American interests here. It is unclear whether American interests necessarily include a possible visit by US President Barack Obama for the official opening of the World Cup. Intelligence officers, according to two sources, intercepted a call made in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, to a group based in Somalia, and the conversation confirmed a...

The president of Somalia says he condemns the recruiting of young men from Minnesota for terrorist activity in his homeland, and he plans to work with the U.S. government to bring those who are still alive back home. President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed spoke Sunday morning through an interpreter in an interview with The Associated Press. He says he plans to publicly condemn the terrorist recruiting at a rally later in the day.

Your Taxi Driver Might Be A Terrorist!!! Somali Americans Become National Security Problem!!! By Paul L. Williams, Ph.D. thelastcrusade.org A group affiliated with al Qaeda could strike the United States in the near future. That’s grim assessment of FBI Director Robert Mueller, who spoke this week at a meeting of the Senate Homeland Security Committee. Mueller’s remarks represent the first time a senior law enforcement or intelligence official has stated on the record that the al-Shabaab, a Muslim terrorist group with ties to al Qaeda, is no longer content to strike within the East African nation of Somalia. During...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A top Al-Qaeda operative who figures high on an FBI list of wanted terror suspects was killed in a US military raid in southern Somalia Monday, a US official told AFP. The official, who asked to remain anonymous, named the dead man as Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, a Kenyan wanted for questioning for 2002 attacks in Mombasa on a hotel and an Israeli airliner. ABC news and Fox News, quoting US officials, said Nabhan was killed when at least one US helicopter fired on a convoy carrying suspected Al-Qaeda targets in southern Somalia earlier Monday. An American...

MOGADISHU, Somalia - American special operations forces killed an al-Qaida terrorist during a helicopter commando assault in Somalia on Monday, NBC News reported. U.S. officials told NBC that Saleh Ali Nabhan, suspected in the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania and the 2002 bombing of a resort hotel in Mombasa, Kenya, was killed when at least one U.S. special operations helicopter opened fire on a suspected al-Qaida convoy south of Mogadishu. Ali Nabhan was also suspected of operating al-Qaida training camps inside Somalia, NBC reported. Two men were killed and two others wounded when foreign troops in helicopters...

A radical Islamic sect based in Somalia and linked to al-Qaida and based in Somalia plotted to kill US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her trip to Africa last month, according to The Australian newspaper. The plot was to be carried out through a planned series of bomb attacks set to take place in Nairobi, the capital of neighboring Kenya, while Clinton was there - one in the hotel where she was staying. The plot was foiled at the last minute, media reports, citing senior security officials, said. According to yesterday's reports, al-Shabaab, which is viewed as increasing regional...

Chinese are inveterate traders. The Chinese diaspora encircles the world and, more recently, has spread into Africa. Merchants and businessmen have followed government investment and projects in these developing corners. They have faced few, if any, enemies. Chinese are generally seen as fellows from a developing nation who create stiff competition but are not colonial masters or foes. That means poor Chinese desperate to make a better living overseas have felt little vulnerability to kidnappings or terrorist attacks. That could be about to change. Official numbers are unavailable for the number of Chinese working in Africa but hundreds of thousands...

(English-language translation) Over 400 Puerto Rico National Guard troops left yesterday for Fort Lewis in Washington, where they will receive training to accomplish their mission in the Horn of Africa. Puerto Rico National Guard Adjutant General Antonio J. Vicéns said that, following the month-long training, the 65th Infantry Battalion will head to Africa to support a security mission. "This is the first 65th Infantry Battalion of National Guardsmen from all states that will perform a mission in the Horn of Africa," Vicéns stated. The soldiers departed in the morning from Luis Muñoz Marín Airport, where Vicéns and their relatives bid...

Al-Qaedastan By: Ryan Mauro FrontPageMagazine.com | Friday, June 26, 2009 <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; dummy:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:maroon; mso-text-animation:none; text-decoration:none; text-underline:none; text-decoration:none; text-line-through:none;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; dummy:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> The...

The United Nations aims to build up a national army of 6,000 soldiers and a police force of 10,000 in the future — at a cost of $31 million per year.

A BRITISH holidaymaker taken hostage while travelling in north Africa has been beheaded by Al Qaeda ­terrorists. Edwin Dyer, 60, had been attending a music festival near the Niger–Mali border when he was captured in January along with fellow tourists. His captors had demanded the release of preacher of hate Abu Qatada who is held in a UK jail. But the grisly execution at the weekend came after two deadlines passed and it was made clear to the terrorists their demands would not be met. Gordon Brown called it an appalling act of barbaric terrorism. He said the terrorists would...

DUBAI, June 3 (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's North Africa wing said on Wednesday it had carried out a threat to kill a British hostage. The report was carried on a website used by al Qaeda-linked groups. The group had said it would kill the Briton if the British government did not release cleric Abu Qatada, whom it is holding in prison.