Somalina Posted February 9, 2012 Agence France-Presse Feb 9, 2012 – 12:28 PM ET | Last Updated: Feb 9, 2012 12:44 PM ET DUBAI — Somalia’s extremist Shabab fighters have joined ranks with al-Qaeda, the terror network’s chief Ayman al-Zawahiri announced in a video message posted on jihadist forums on Thursday. “I will break the good news to our Islamic nation, which will… annoy the crusaders, and it is that the Shabab movement in Somalia has joined al-Qaeda,” Zawahiri said. In the first part of the video, Shabab’s leader Ahmed Abdi Godane, also known as Mukhtar Abu Zubair, addressed Zawahiri, saying: “We will move along with you as faithful soldiers.” “In the name of my mujahideen brothers, leaders and soldiers… I pledge obedience,” Zubair said. “Lead us on the road of jihad and martyrdom, in the footsteps that our martyr Osama bin Laden had drawn for us,” he added, referring to al-Qaeda’s former leader who was killed last year in a covert U.S. raid on his hide-out in Pakistan. The Shabab group proclaimed its allegiance to bin Laden in a video documentary distributed in 2009. The hardline Somali Islamists are fighting to overthrow a fragile western-backed transitional government in the war-torn Horn of Africa country. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Xaaji Xunjuf Posted February 9, 2012 The End of Alshabaab in Somalia Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Somalina Posted February 9, 2012 From correspondents in Nairobi From: AP February 10, 2012 6:21AM THE Somali militant group al-Shabab has formally joined al-Qaeda, according to a video translation of a message from al-Qaida's leader. Ayman al-Zawahri gave "glad tidings" that al-Shabab had joined al-Qaeda, according to the translation of the 15-minute video by the Site Intelligence group. "Today, I have glad tidings for the Muslim Ummah that will please the believers and disturb the disbelievers, which is the joining of the Shabaab al-Mujahideen Movement in Somalia to Qaedat al-Jihad, to support the jihadi unity against the Zio-Crusader campaign and their assistants amongst the treacherous agent rulers," he said. Al-Shabab leaders have pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda in the past, releasing a video in 2009 called, At Your Service Osama! The same year, former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden released a video in which he made encouraging comments about the Somali insurgency. But the new al-Zawahri video - which was posted on an Islamic internet forum overnight - is the first formal welcoming of al-Shabab by the new al-Qaeda leader. The new video also featured al-Shabab chairman Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr, also known as Godane, pledging allegiance to al-Zawahri. Somalia's al-Shabab militia is a mix of conscripts, paid fighters, clan militias and ideologues. It counts a few hundred foreign fighters among its ranks. Most are drawn from other East African nations, but a few have travelled from as far afield as Pakistan and Chechnya. The foreigners brought cash and tactical and bomb-making knowledge to al-Shabab, but the extent of al-Shabab's formal links to al-Qaeda have often been unclear. Clan allegiances are still an important part of the 21-year-old Somali civil war, which currently pits al-Shabab against the weak UN-backed government. The government is supported by some 10,000 African Union troops and allied militias. Last November al-Zawahri released a video about his memories of bin Laden. The longtime bin Laden deputy became al-Qaeda's head after US Navy SEALS killed bin Laden in May. Information in his compound at the time of his death suggested bin Laden was "giving strategic direction" to al-Qaeda affiliates in Somalia and Yemen. Western intelligence officials say al-Qaeda officials have found sanctuary with al-Shabab for years. Last month, a US drone strike killed Bilal al-Berjawi, a close associate of late al-Qaeda operative Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, who directed the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed more than 200 people. Fazul was killed in Somalia last year. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Somalina Posted February 9, 2012 http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2012/02/somali-militants-reportedly-join-forces-with-al-qaeda-video.html Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
