Free Republic

SNIPPET: "While these various elements of the jihadist network are distinct, the Internet brings them together, especially at the grassroots level. Videos, websites and online magazines indoctrinate aspiring militants in the jihadist ideology and provide a forum for like-minded individuals and groups."

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The October al-Qaida video shows a light-skinned man handing out food to families displaced by famine in Somalia. But the masked man is not Somali, or even African — he's a Wisconsin native who grew up in San Diego. A handful of young Muslims from the U.S. are taking high-visibility propaganda and operational roles inside an al-Qaida-linked insurgent force in Somalia known as al-Shabab. While most are from Minnesota, which has the largest Somali population in the nation, al-Shabab members include a Californian and an Alabaman with no ancestral ties to Somalia. "They are being deployed...

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan is facing a double challenge with a series of sectarian attacks by the Boko Haram Islamist group and deadly protests over a fuel subsidy removal. When he took over the presidency of Africa’s most populous nation in 2010, Goodluck Jonathan seemed destined to live up to his name. But that was until recently, when a steady drum-roll of bad news from Nigeria appeared to be reaching an alarming crescendo. On two different fronts, Jonathan is facing challenges that are threatening the stability of Africa’s largest oil-producing nation. A wave of violence blamed on the Boko Haram...

GREENBELT, Md. – A former U.S. Army soldier has been charged with attempting to provide material support to terror group al Shabaab, the Department of Justice announced Monday. Craig Benedict Baxam was arrested Friday upon return to his home state of Maryland after he was captured in Africa during an alleged attempt to reach Somalia, where the terror group is based. Baxam, 24, joined the Army in 2007 and served in Baghdad and Korea. During his enlistment, he completed eight months of advanced intelligence and cryptology training, the Justice Department said in a press release. According to court papers, Baxam...

MOGADISHU, Somalia, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- The Kenyan army said it killed 60 al-Shabaab militia fighters during an airstrike in Somalia. Col. Cyrus Oguna, an army spokesman, said another 20 of the militant Islamic fighters have defected in recent weeks, the BBC reported. "We will keep hitting them until their spine is completely broken ... and we will relish that moment," Oguna said. "The resistance from al-Shabaab is crumbling, there is division within the al-Shabaab leadership." Al-Shabaab leaders responded by promising to defeat the Kenyan army. The Kenyan military intervention was "rapidly rolling down a path towards an ignominious end...

Over the last 12 months alone, we have been provided with a stack of evidence of the Jihadist insurgency inside America. Americans have largely ignored this evidence, or at least failed to “connect the dots.” Seemingly completely unrelated cases do in fact have common threads: they are acts of Jihad. I have compiled this list of incidents, cases, actions, statements and plots which point to a Jihadist insurgency in our midst...

Terrorists operate in Namibia: NamRights‎ Informante - Nov 2, 2011 Written by Hilma Ndapandula Himotha The human rights organisation NamRights claims that some of the country’s highest political office holders tolerated and protected operations of at least two militant Islamic terrorist groups n Namibia. NamRights director Phil ya Nangoloh claims that his organisation is in possession of credible information that members of the Lebanon-based Hezbollah militias as well as Somali al-Shabab jihadists have been operating in Namibia for several years. In a press release that NamRights published yesterday, ya Nangoloh demands from President Pohamba to clearly deny or confirm such...

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — By the time U.S. military forces left Somalia in 1994 after entering the lawless nation more than a year earlier to stop a famine, 44 Army soldiers, Marines and airmen had been killed and dozens more wounded. Thus ended America's last large-scale military intervention in Africa. But the U.S. has come back, using special forces advisers, drones and tens of millions of dollars in military aid to combat a growing and multifaceted security threat. This time the United States is playing a less obtrusive role but is focusing once again on Somalia. While putting few U.S....

The girl’s voice dropped to a hush as she remembered the bright, sunny afternoon when she stepped out of her hut and saw her best friend buried in the sand, up to her neck. Her friend had made the mistake of refusing to marry a Shabab commander. Now she was about to get her head bashed in, rock by rock. “You’re next,” the Shabab warned the girl, a frail 17-year-old who was living with her brother in a squalid refugee camp. Several months later, the men came back. Five militants burst into her hut, pinned her down and gang-raped her,...

I got myself a Twitter account just four weeks ago. It seems that my fortunes have taken a turn for the worse, having me barely edge out al-Shabaab, Islamist terrorists’ recent cause célèbre, which logged its first tweet on December 7. Al-Shabaab, or “The Youth,” is a militant Islamist group with ties to al-Qaeda that has laid siege to much of southern Somalia since 2006. The group is persistently fighting (and winning) an insurgency against the United Nations-backed Transitional Federal Government, which is contained in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu. Still more pressingly, al-Shabaab has mounted attacks against African Union Mission in...

Anyone who speaks candidly and truthfully about Islam is at risk; that includes secular Muslims. Everywhere the sharia is imposed, non-Muslims and moderate Muslims suffer. Here the Musim Brotherhood group CAIR is putting decent and fine Muslims who speak out against jihad at risk. Minnesota: Two Somalis receiving death threats after CAIR criticized them and their conference's portrayal of al-Shabaab as "Islamic terrorists" Jihadwatch CAIR's Minnesota chapter led a personal attack on the credibility of Omar Jamal and Abdi Bihi in connection with their planned presence at a conference whose literature described al-Shabaab as an "Islamic extremist terrorism organization," to...

NOTE The following text is a quote: www.fbi.gov/sandiego/press-releases/2011/san-diego-woman-pleads-guilty-to-conspiracy-to-provide-material-support-to-al-shabaab San Diego Woman Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Provide Material Support to al Shabaab U.S. Attorney’s Office December 01, 2011 Southern District of California SAN DIEGO—Nima Yusuf, 25, a resident of San Diego, pleaded guilty today in federal court in San Diego to conspiring to provide material support to al Shabaab, a foreign terrorist organization, U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy announced. Yusuf entered her plea before Magistrate Judge Ruben B. Brooks, and the plea is subject to final acceptance by U.S. District Judge Barry Ted Moskowitz at or before sentencing. As part of...

(Reuters) - New convoys of heavily-armed Ethiopian troops have crossed into Somalia and are heading for central areas, residents said Sunday, days after Addis Ababa said it planned to send troops to help Somali and Kenya forces fighting Islamist insurgents. Ethiopia, which intervened in Somalia between 2006 and 2009, said Friday that it would deploy troops inside Somalia again for a "brief period. An Ethiopian government official also acknowledged Friday that a small force was already there on a reconnaissance mission. Ethiopia had previously denied scores of military trucks and armoured vehicles had entered Somalia on November 19 and 20....

Ethiopia is being sucked back into Somalia to open another front against Islamist rebels battling Kenyan forces but even a military victory is unlikely to end two decades of anarchy unless the country's feuding politicians and clans want peace. A small Ethiopian contingent rolled across the border on November 19 and 20, although Addis Ababa has publicly denied its troops are there. They have revived bases used during its ill-fated 2006-2009 campaign to rid the anarchic country of hardline Islamist rebels. Regional leaders were meeting in the Ethiopian capital on Friday to discuss ways of supporting Kenya's campaign. Mogadishu has...

Ethiopian troops have crossed the border into Somalia in significant numbers, eyewitnesses say. They say they saw at least 20 vehicles carrying Ethiopian troops. A few hundred soldiers were seen in Gurel town in Galgudud region and there were other sightings around Beledweyne. Ethiopian authorities have denied the incursion. Their soldiers have not been in Somalia in large numbers since 2009 when they withdrew after a controversial three-year presence. These reports come as Kenyan troops continue their efforts to defeat fighters of the Islamist group al-Shabab in the south of Somalia.

Quote: www.fbi.gov/stlouis/press-releases/2011/local-man-pleads-guilty-to-providing-material-support-to-terrorist-organization Local Man Pleads Guilty to Providing Material Support to Terrorist Organization U.S. Attorney’s Office November 03, 2011 Eastern District of Missouri ST. LOUIS—The United States Attorney’s Office announced today that Mohamud Abdi Yusuf, 31, pled guilty to providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization. According to court documents, from February 2008 through at least July 2009, Yusuf, conspired with others to provide money to al Shabaab, which was designated by the U.S. State Department as a foreign terrorist organization in February 2008. Yusuf transferred money to al Shabaab under fictitious names and telephone numbers utilizing money remitting...

Why is the U.S. sending its troops to finish off a fractured band of bush fighters in the middle of Africa? Political payback for the quiet sacrifices of Uganda's troops in Somalia could be one reason, experts say. President Barack Obama announced Friday he is dispatching about 100 U.S. troops — mostly special operations forces — to central Africa to advise in the fight against the Lord's Resistance Army. The LRA is a guerrilla group accused of widespread atrocities across several countries. The first U.S. troops arrived Wednesday. Long considered one of Africa's most brutal rebel groups, the Lord's Resistance...

As the jury in the trial of two Rochester Somali women accused of supporting terrorists overseas began deliberations late Monday, a large group of the women's supporters held a court of their own outside the courthouse in downtown Minneapolis. They decried the charges and the surveillance methods FBI agents used in their investigation of Amina Farah Ali and Hawo Mohamed Hassan, both U.S. citizens who are the first to be tried in connection with one of the most extensive counterterrorism inquiries since the Sept. 11 attacks. "All Somalis around the world are listening to this case," shouted Abdinasir Abdi, who...

An Islamist fault famine in Somalia (genocide) - Thousands perished because of Islamists' policies  BBC News - Somali Islamists maintain aid ban and deny famine - Jul 22, 2011 - Somalia's al-Shabab Islamists have denied lifting their ban on some Western aid agencies and say UN reports of famine are "sheer propaganda".The UN on Wednesday said that parts of Somalia were suffering a famine after the worst drought in 60 years.A spokesman for al-Shabab, which has ties to al-Qaeda and controls much of the country, accused the banned groups of being political.But the UN insists famine exists and it will continue...

The head of an international medical charity has called on aid agencies to stop presenting a misleading picture of the famine in Somalia and admit that helping the worst-affected people is almost impossible. The international president of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Dr Unni Karunakara, returned from Somalia last week and said that, even though there was chronic malnutrition and drought across east Africa, hardly any agencies were able to work inside war-torn Somalia, where the picture was "profoundly distressing". He condemned other organisations and the media for "glossing over" the reality in order to convince people that simply giving money...

Somali famine refugees draw hope from Islamists' Mogadishu withdrawal Prime minister says al-Shabaab fighters have now left 90% of the capital, raising prospect of faster delivery of humanitarian aid

(CNSNews.com) – Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) downplayed the threat posed to the U.S. by a Somalia-based terror group, despite a new report showing that as many as 40 Somali-American Muslims have been recruited and trained by al-Shabaab.“Al Shabaab does not appear to present any danger to this homeland,” Thompson said Wednesday at a hearing of the House Homeland Security Committee. He acknowledged that the “intelligence community sees a need to monitor Al Shabaab’s activities,” but he said “vigilance must be in direct proportion to the probability and likelihood of the threat.”At part of the hearing, the committee’s Republican staff –...

Rep. Keith Ellison's request to testify at Wednesday's House Committee on Homeland Security hearing on Islamic radicalization was denied by Rep. Peter King, the committee chairman. Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, sent a letter to King on Monday asking that he could testify at Wednesday's hearing, which will address Al-Shabaab, a Somali terror group. King, a New York Republican, responded that Wednesday's hearing is an extension of the March hearing on Islamic radicalization where Ellison did testify. King wrote in a letter to Ellison that Al-Shabaab was a focus of the March hearing, and he asked that Ellison...

Republicans are blasting the Obama administration for detaining a Somali terror suspect for two months aboard a U.S. warship before flying him to New York over the July Fourth holiday to face charges in a civilian trial. Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame, who has ties to the Al Qaeda-linked group al-Shabaab, was captured April 19 in the Horn of Africa region, possibly in Yemen. At his arraignment in New York Tuesday, he pleaded not guilty to the nine charges he's been indicted on by a federal grand jury, including providing material support to a terrorist organization. "The Obama administration won't detain terrorists...

Washington – The U.S. targeted Al Qaeda-linked militants in Somalia in a drone attack last week, in what was believed to be the first such airstrike in the anarchic eastern African nation, The Washington Post reported Thursday. The U.S. drone targeted two senior members of the al-Shabaab insurgent militia, amid growing fears in Washington that the Islamist group was seeking to expand its operations overseas. The two militants, who had ties with Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S.-born preacher believed to be hiding in Yemen, were wounded in the attack, the report quoted a military official as saying.

Suicide Bomber Attacks Mogadishu Port Thursday, June 9th, 2011 at 3:45 pm UTC Posted 25 minutes ago Somali police say a suicide bomber has attacked the main port in the capital, Mogadishu, killing at least one civilian and also losing his own life. Authorities say the attacker and another man penetrated a security wall on Thursday. Police say the first man detonated explosives he was wearing, killing himself and another person. Security forces shot and killed the second attacker. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. The al-Qaida-linked militant group al-Shabab is fighting the Somali government and African Union troops...

Somali officials confirmed today that Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, al Qaeda's leader in East Africa and a senior Shabaab commander, was killed at a Somali military checkpoint in Mogadishu earlier this week. Fazul is one of the most wanted terrorists in East Africa for his role in attacks on US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania as well as his role within Shabaab. Somalia's minister of information confirmed Fazul's death, according to The Associated Press. "We've compared the pictures of the body to his old pictures," he said. "They are the same. It is confirmed. He is the man and he is...

U.S. President Barack Obama's grandmother has received death threats from the African branch of al-Qaida, prompting stepped up security around her home in Kenya, ABC News reported on Thursday. Sarah Obama, the U.S. president's step-grandmother, informed the Kenyan police that she had received a personal threat from al-Shabaab, the Somalia-based branch of al-Qaida, ABC reported.

SNIPPET: "Total bail was set at $200,000, and as a condition of release, Mr. Hersi must be in the company of one of his sureties at all times, except during private consultations with his lawyer. He has also been banned from applying for a passport, possessing firearms and accessing the Internet."

Two Muslim extremists in Somalia murdered a member of a secret Christian community in the name of Islam in Lower Shabele region as part of a campaign to rid the country of Christianity, sources said. An area source told Compass two al Shabaab militants shot 21-year-old Hassan Adawe Adan in Shalambod town after entering his house at 7:30 p.m. “Two al Shabaab members dragged him out of his house, and after 10 minutes they fired several shots on him,” said an area source who requested anonymity. “He then died immediately.” The militants then shouted “Allahu Akbar [God is greater]” before...

Residents believe the attacks targeted mosques run by al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab rebels, blamed for a roadside bombing a few hours before that killed a prominent cleric who was also a senior Puntland government official. ... "It appears to be a declaration of religious war," Mohamed Ali Yusuf, a Puntland security official... Earlier Saturday, a prominent moderate Sufi cleric who was a senior official in Puntland's justice and religion ministry was killed in the city after a remote controlled bomb exploded near his car, hours before the first mosque attack. "I have no doubt that al Shabaab is responsible for...

SNIPPET: "An examination of online activities by binyamine leads to the conclusion that he is likely involved with Dar al-Murabiteen, and that he links multiple terrorist networks together through his work translating, transcribing, and distributing jihadi media content. He is linked, in no particular order, to • Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan • The Pakistan and Afghan Taliban • as-Sahab, al-Emara, and al-Malahem media outfits • al-Shabaab and their al-Qimmah forum This is what Granovetter meant by a bridging weak tie - the kind of "weak" tie that is strong, as he links multiple networks. Among other things, all this...

Somali pirates said on Sunday they would lower some of their ransom demands to get a faster turnover of ships they hijack in the Indian Ocean. Armed pirate gangs, who have made millions of dollars capturing ships as far south as the Seychelles and eastwards towards India, said they were holding too many vessels and needed a quicker handover to generate more income. “I believe there is no excuse for taking high ransoms. At least each of our groups holds ships now,” pirate Hussein told Reuters from Hobyo on the Somalian coast. He said the pirates were holding more than...

The United Nations was paying one of the world’s most notorious terrorist groups after getting “too close” to it, secret documents disclose. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) had to suspend activities in southern Somalia after being manipulated by al-Shabaab, which is linked to al-Qaeda. In a meeting last year with the UN ambassador Susan Rice, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the special representative for Somalia, said the WFP had been withdrawn “because it had become too reliant upon al-Shabaab and its system of pay-offs”. Al-Shabaab, an Islamic group fighting to overthrow the Somalian government, controls much of south and central Somalia and...

Note: Photo included. SNIPPET: "Bout and American-born pal Richard Chichakli were accused of creating a new business, Samar Airlines, which they thought was clean of any connection to their own bloody dealings. Starting in the summer of 2007, Samar Airlines started making deals for airplanes and crews to ferry contraband between the United States and Tajikistan, the indictment said." SNIPPET: "The Russian-born Bout is accused of wiring $1.7 million from bank accounts in Kazakhstan, Cyprus, Russia through banks in New York City and Salt Lake City to finance the scheme." SNIPPET: "Bout, who is accused of supplying weapons to real...

With a cry of “there is no God but Allah!” two young Somali girls ages 18 and 15 were executed before hundreds of witnesses in a spray of bullets in Mogadishu, Somalia, yesterday. The girls were sent to their deaths by Sheikh Mohammed Ibrahim ... These executions come amongst a string of Al Shabab- sponsored whippings, amputations and executions such as those suffered by the two young women — – all in the name of Islam and overseen by judges whose only qualifications are that they are men who claim to know the Koran.

An Indiana grandmother who married a suspected German jihadist and converted to the Muslim religion is under investigation for possible ties to terrorists, according to FoxNews.com . Kathie Smith, 46, is a U.S. citizen and lives in Indianapolis.

Remember the news report in May about "Other Than Mexicans" (OTMs) who crossed the border, with the Feds denying ANY terrorists had come in? Now the same stalwart reporters from Atlanta's WFSB have uncovered proof: Somalis from the terrorist group Al Shabob, smuggled in by the hundreds and UNACCOUNTED FOR inside the U.S. No more coverups! The incoming House GOP must open hearings on this ASAP. And NO "comprehensive reform". No "DREAM" amnesty. NO immigration legislation can even be considered in the new Congress before border security is DONE.

Salah Osman Ahmed, 26, pleaded guilty in federal court today to providing material support to terrorists, according to his attorney. Ahmed, a part-time security guard from Brooklyn Park, is accused of traveling to Somalia in December 2007, allegedly to train with al-Shabaab, an Islamic militant group that federal officials say has links to al-Qaida. Ahmed's attorney, James Ostgard, said late Monday night that his client will plead guilty to a single count -- providing material support to terrorists -- before U.S. District Judge James Rosenbaum. In exchange for the guilty plea, Ostgard said three other counts will be dismissed at...

NOTE The following blog entry is a quote: TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2010 update on : German terror suspect arrested in Kenya UPDATE ON German detained in Kenya on terror suspicion-report Kenyan police said on Tuesday they had arrested a suspected German militant and deported him shortly after issuing an alert about his presence in the country. Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said Sascha Alessandro Boettcher, who arrived in Kenya on September 22, was arrested in Mtwapa outside the coastal city of Mombasa."Kindly note that the suspect has been arrested from a private residence in Mtwapa and deported back to Germany," Kiraithe...

Note: Photo included. NOTE The following text is a quote: Wednesday, October 6, 2010 Somali Family Laments Kidnapping of Christian Girl Islamist extremist insurgents abducted 15-year-old nearly eight months ago By Dan Wooding Founder of ASSIST Ministries MOGADISHU, SOMALIA (ANS) -- Compass Direct News (CDN) is reporting that an underground Christian family from central Somalia is agonizing over the kidnapping of their daughter nearly eight months ago by Islamic militants bent on punishing those who leave Islam. Al Shabaab gunmen in Somalia Ghelle Hassan Aded told Compass that he has not seen his 15-year-old daughter, Anab Ghelle Hassan, since Islamic...

Unidentified helicopter gunships on Sunday launched an attack on a target in a southern Somali town controlled by Islamist insurgent group of Al Shabaab, residents said. The gunships fired at a house in the coastal town of Marka, 90 km south of the Somali capital Mogadishu and Islamist fighters responded by firing at the aircraft. No casualties were reported. "The helicopters shot at a house in the town but it flew away after Islamic forces shot back at it. We do not know if the shells caused any casualties," Ali Jama, a resident in Marka, told Xinhua. The town has...

SNIPPET: "A Shabaab suicide assault attacked Mogadishu International Airport today, killing five people. The Shabaab fighters were beaten back by African Union troops guarding the facility after the terror team penetrated the first ring of security. A suicide team of five Shabaab fighters, some dressed in uniforms worn by Somali soldiers, launched their attack at the airport entrance at around 2:00 p.m. local time, according to a press release put out by African Union forces. "The first vehicle exploded at the airport entrance, around 500 meters from the airport terminal," the African Union stated. "The second vehicle, following immediately behind...

Al Shabaab Terrorist banned women in areas under their control in Somalia to wear bra calling it as Un-Islamic, witnesses told TF.SF on Tuesday. The witnesses reported that al Shabaab young fighters were stopping women in Mogadishu especially areas under their control not to wear bra or they would face punishment from them.

06 April 2010 "WHAT'S GOOD ABOUT THERE BEING A GENUINE AMERICAN AL-QAIDA MOVEMENT?[1]" SNIPPET: "They write in English and their websites have RSS feeds, that's what. Reduces our overhead, improves our cash flow - thanks guys!"

War On Terror: A flurry of indictments against Somali immigrants accused of aiding al-Qaida, including a number of naturalized U.S. citizens, shows we're still importing people who want to destroy us. The Justice Department on Thursday announced 14 new indictments of terrorists mostly from Minneapolis, which has a large Somali community. The city has acted as a deadly pipeline routing funding and fighters to al-Qaida in Somalia and other jihad hot spots. The latest sweep is part of a broader investigation started under the Bush administration that's charged a total of 19 people in not just Minnesota, but California and...

Note: Photo and Graphic Included. NOTE The following text is a quote: FIGHTING TERROR 14 Indicted for Supporting al Shabaab 08/05/10 Two Americans are under arrest and 12 other U.S. citizens have been charged with acts of terrorism that include providing money, personnel, and other material support to the Somali-based terrorist organization al Shabaab. Results of an FBI-led global investigation were announced today at Department of Justice headquarters in Washington, where indictments were unsealed charging individuals in Minnesota, Alabama, and California. Twelve of the 14 under indictment are fugitives believed to be in Somalia. About al Shabaab On Feb. 29,...

A 26-year-old Chicago man was trying to help finance al-Qaida and hoped to blow himself up in a suicide mission, authorities say. Shaker Masri was arrested Tuesday evening and charged by federal prosecutors on Wednesday with knowingly intending to use a weapon of mass destruction outside the United States. Authorities said Masri told an FBI informant that he planned to go to Somalia and help al-Qaida, and asked the informant for money to help buy guns once they got there. He also told the informant that he hoped to become a martyr by wearing a suicide vest, the criminal complaint...

NOTE The following text is a quote: Virginia Man Accused of Providing Material Support to Terrorists ALEXANDRIA, VA—Zachary Adam Chesser, 20, of Fairfax County, Va., was arrested today on charges that he provided material support to al Shabaab, a designated foreign terrorist organization. Neil H. MacBride, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Shawn Henry, Assistant Director in Charge (ADIC) of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, made the announcement after Chesser was arrested and the charging documents were made public. “This case exposes the disturbing reality that extreme radicalization can happen anywhere, including Northern Virginia,” said U.S. Attorney...