Somali Islamist rebel send forces to Yemen

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Somali Islamist rebel group said on Friday they will send fighters to Al Qaeda in Yemen as to support Yemen rebel group those fighting Yemen military forces.

Al-shabaab senior official Sheikh Mukhtar Robow Abu Mansour that pledges loyalty to Al-Qaeda, declared the plan as he addressing hundreds of newly-trained fighters in the north of Capital.

Sheikh Mukhtar Robow Abu Mansour, senior leader of Al-shabaab said “We tell our Muslim brothers in Yemen that we will cross the waters between Yemen and Somalia to reach your place to assist you fight the enemy of Allah.” He added “Inshallah we shall win over America”.

He urged to the Arab youth to join the fight in Yemen and to help the group based in Yemen fighting against the enemy of Allah. “Today you see what is happening in Yemen, the enemy of Allah is destroying your Muslim brothers,” he added.

Yemen military forces have launched last month heavy offensive against the rebel group those links with Al Qaeda in central and the Sanaa regions. Military officials said they have killed more than 60 Islamist fighters.

Military also said several others were wounded in the battle this week in a western region of Arabian peninsula state which locates north of Somalia across the Gulf of Aden.

Al Qaeda based in Yemen taken responsibility of attempting to blow up the failed Christmas Day plot to bring down a US jetliner from Amsterdam to Detroit and it was believed that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who tried to blast the plane, from Yemen after received training from Al Qaeda bomb maker in Yemen.

Recent months Suicide attacks and roadside bombs have grown in number, leading Western intelligence agencies to conclude that there are growing links between al-Shabaab and al-Qaeda.

Western countries already warned that Somalia is becoming a haven for international terrorists.

Harakat Al-Shabaab from Arab Language — meaning “Youth Movement” — appeared in 2005 in the capital as to support the Islamic Courts Union, which aimed to defeat the clan warlords that had divided and devastated the country since Somali government collapsed in 1991.

In their brief control in Mogadishu in 2006 the Courts brought back peace to the city for the first time in years. But US-backed by Ethiopian invasion forced ICU to be in exile and Al-Shabaab attracted popular support by fighting a guerrilla war against Ethiopian forces.

Westerns believe that many of Al-Shabaab leaders are radical Somali veterans of the Afghanistan wars. Last year Ahmed Abdi Godane, known as Abu Zubeyr, became its top commander. He is believed to have fought in Afghanistan in the 1980s.

Unconfirmed rumours in recent days have mentioned that Fazul Abdullah — a Comoran national believed to be Al Qaeda’s top leader in East Africa and wanted for bombings in Kenya — has replaced Somali Ahmed Abdi Godane (Abu Zubayr) at the head of the Al-Shabaab.

In 2008, the US had designated Al-Shabaab as a terrorist organization and May 2008 killed Aden Hashi Ayro senior leader of Al-Shabaab.

Somalia has not had an effective government since warlords overthrew longtime dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.

BY: Muhyadin Ahmed Roble
      Freelance Journalist
     Nairobi – Kenya
Email: muhudin01@gmail.com

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