the new alshabaab leader is not messing around.
Monday September 8, 2014
At least 12 civilians were killed
Monday in a suicide attack targeting
African Union troops in Somalia's
Lower Shabelle region, the first
serious assault by suspected Islamic
extremists after the killing of al-
Shabab's top leader in a U.S.
airstrike last week, the police and a
regional official said.
The attack happened near the Elasha
Biyaha settlement, said Abdiqadir
Mohamed Nor, the governor of Lower
Shabelle.
A suicide bomber detonated his
explosives-laden car next to a
convoy of African Union forces
moving near two minibuses, said
Somali police official Hassan Ali.
Then, amid the confusion, another
bomb went off when a second
suicide attacker rammed his car into
a convoy escorting Abdifatah
Shaweye, the Mogadishu intelligence
commander, who was in the area to
inspect the scene of the first blast.
Shaweye suffered "slight wounds"
and was rushed to a Mogadishu
hospital. There were no fatalities
from the second blast, Ali said.
Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for
the attack in a radio broadcast.
Somalia's government warned over
the weekend that there is a
probability of attacks following the
killing of Ahmed Abdi Godane, who
was confirmed dead by the U.S. on
Friday following a Monday airstrike.
Possible targets include medical and
educational institutions, said Gen.
Khalif Ahmed Ereg, Somalia's
national security minister, in a
televised speech on Friday.
Mortar shells struck a Mogadishu
neighborhood on Sunday, the day
after al-Shabab named a new leader
and vowed to avenge the death of
Godane.
Al-Shabab said in a statement over
the weekend that it remains aligned
with al-Qaida, according to the SITE
Intelligence Group, which monitors
statements by Islamic militant
groups.
"Avenging the death of our scholars
and leaders is a binding obligation
on our shoulders that we will never
relinquish nor forget no matter how
long it takes," said the al-Shabab
statement, according to SITE.
Godane, who was also known as
Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr, was al-
Shabab's spiritual leader, and the
U.S. had offered a reward of up to $7
million for information leading to his
arrest.
Godane had publicly claimed al-
Shabab was responsible for an attack
on a mall in the Kenyan capital,
Nairobi, in which 67 people were
killed a year ago. Kenya later became
part of the African Union force that is
bolstering Somalia's weak, U.N.-
backed government against al-
Shabab's insurgency.
Backed by African Union forces,
Somali government troops recently
launched a military offensive aimed
at ousting al-Shabab militants from
their last strongholds in southern
Somalia, including the coastal city of
Barawe, where military officials say
al-Shabab plots attacks across
Somalia. Scores of people have been
killed this year, including lawmakers
who are being targeted for
assassination.
Ugandan Brig. ceeb Olum, a
commander of African Union troops
fighting al-Shabab, said the death of
Godane left them motivated to
escalate the fight against the
militants.
"It means that now they are off
balance," he said, referring to Islamic
extremist militants. "It's time to put
them on pressure, to escalate. We
have to go and take over Barawe
before the militants sit down and
make a plan."
The U.S. State Department declared
al-Shabab a terrorist organization in
February 2008
