Deadly attack at Jazeera Palace hotel in Mogadishu - CNN.com

A suicide attacker drove a vehicle loaded with explosives into the gate of the Jazeera Palace Hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia, on Sunday, killing at least 15 people, a police official said.

The Al-Shabaab terror group took responsibility for the attack, saying it was targeting Western diplomats. The luxury hotel houses the diplomatic missions for several nations, including China.

Capt. Ibrahim Liban, a police officer at the scene, said deaths occurred when a car bomb exploded at the hotel's main gate. Among those killed was a Somali journalist who worked for the London-based Universal TV channel, Liban said.

Ambulances and security forces were on the scene, he said.

Abdiweli Qanyare, a member of Somalia's Parliament who was near the hotel when the attack occurred, said it was one of the loudest explosions he had ever heard in the Somali capital.

The bomb destroyed part of the hotel and caused damage to nearby structures, Qanyare said.

Why Al-Shabaab is a growing threat 01:37

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The U.N. Assistance Mission in Somalia deplored the attack in a statement.

The African Union Mission in Somalia also called the attack "shameful" and said it "demonstrates the demonic agenda of the Al-Shabaab to want to deny Somalia the peace that is beginning, despite such unfathomable acts, to be enjoyed across the country."

The AU mission said it had sent a team to bring wounded people to the organization's hospital for care and to help Somali security forces evacuate foreigners from the hotel.

Ethiopian troops lead big new AU offensive against Al-Shabaab in Somalia; heavy fighting raging | Mail & Guardian Africa

Last month's al-Shabaab assault on a AMISOM base left dozens of Burundian soldiers dead in one of the deadliest incidents in eight years ago.

Somali soldiers patrol in a pickup truck near the site where al-Shabaab militants carried out a suicide attack against a military intelligence base in Mogadishu on June 21, 2015. (Photo/AFP).

AFRICAN Union troops said Sunday they had launched a new offensive against Al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabaab rebels in southern Somalia, vowing to flush the insurgents out of rural areas.

The African Union Mission in Somalia, or AMISOM, said “Operation Jubba Corridor” was launched on Friday in the Bay and Gedo regions south of the capital Mogadishu along with Somali government troops.

Officials and witnesses confirmed heavy fighting was raging near the al-Shabaab strongholds of Dinsor and Bardhere, and said the militants hit back with a suicide car bomb attack against a convoy of Ethiopian troops, who are leading the offensive.

“The operation will ensure that all the remaining areas in Somalia will be liberated and peace restored,” AMISOM said in a statement.

A Somali military official in the region, Mohamed Osman, confirmed heavy fighting between AMISOM and Somali troops on one side and the Shabaab on the other.

“There are heavy clashes going on between our forces and al-Shabaab militia along the road that leads to Dinsor. The militants ambushed a military convoy,” he said.

Witnesses who live close to the battleground said a suicide attacker struck the convoy with a car bomb loaded with explosives. There were no immediate reports on casualties.

The offensive was launched days after Kenyan government reports that a US drone strike in the region killed at least 30 al-Shabaab rebels, among them several commanders.

It also comes several weeks after last month’s al-Shabaab assault on a AMISOM base which left dozens of Burundian soldiers dead in one of the single deadliest incidents since AMISOM soldiers arrived in Somalia eight years ago.

The al-Shabaab, meaning “youth” in Arabic, emerged out of a bitter insurgency against Ethiopia, whose troops entered Somalia in a 2006 US-backed invasion to topple the Islamic Courts Union that was then controlling the capital Mogadishu.

Al-Shabaab rebels continue to stage frequent attacks, seeking to counter claims that they are close to defeat after losing territory in the face of repeated African Union and Somali government offensives, regular US drone strikes against their leaders and defections.

Currently affiliated to Al-Qaeda, there has been mounting speculation that the group could shift its allegiance to the Islamic State group.

In a message marking Muslim Eid celebrations on Friday, al-Shabaab leader Ahmed Diriye—also known as Ahmed Umar Abu Ubaidah—outlined plans for the group to increase its operations outside of Somalia and particularly in Kenya.

Federal government accused of 'purposely delaying’ prison transfer from Ethiopia | Toronto Star

Toronto's Bashir Makhtal has been in an Ethiopian prison since 2009.

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Bashir Makhtal was arrested on the border of Kenya and Somalia in 2006 after fleeing Mogadishu and the fall of the Islamic Courts Union.

By: Debra Black Immigration Reporter, Published on Fri Jul 17 2015

Ottawa has dropped the ball in the prison-transfer of a Canadian citizen serving a lifesentence in Ethiopia, according to Said Maktal, a cousin of the prisoner.

Maktal criticizes Ottawa of not vigorously pursuing the transfer, saying that new minister of foreign affairs has no interest in his cousin’s fate.

Maktal says that both Foreign Affairs Minister Rob Nicholson and Public Safety Canada Minister Steven Blaney should be doing more to bring home his cousin.

A prisoner-transfer agreement was accepted in early March by Bashir Makhtal, said Said Maktal. And he was told then that his cousin might be home this fall, possibly before the Oct. 19 election.

But so far there has been little movement on the transfer agreement, Maktal said. And he believes there’s only one reason for that — a lack of interest in the case.

Neither Nicholson nor Blaney responded to the Star’s requests for a comment on Maktal’s criticism of their efforts to return his cousin to Canada.

François Lasalle, a spokesperson for Foreign Affairs, told the Star that “to protect the privacy of the individual concerned, further details on this case cannot be released.”

Similarly, Zarah Malik, a spokesperson for Public Safety Canada, told the Star that “the Privacy Act prevents federal government officials from discussing the specifics of an offender’s case.”

Maktal said he has repeatedly called both Foreign Affairs and Public Safety Canada — which is responsible for international prison transfers under the International Transfer of Offenders Act — looking for answers.

He has been told by Public Safety officials that they are working on the case, but won’t give him specifics or tell him if the minister of foreign affairs and the minister of public safety have signed the required paperwork or if it has been sent to Ethiopia.

“The only person who was interested in the case left the office — which was John Baird— and after that nothing has happened with the case,” said Maktal, referring to the former cabinet minister who is now working in the public sector. “I think the government is purposely delaying the case . . . After eight and a half years the problem isn’t Ethiopia. The problem is in Canada.”

Bashir Makhtal, a 46-year-old who lived and worked in Toronto, has been languishing in an Ethiopian jail in Addis Ababa since he was convicted of terrorism in 2009. He has always denied the charges.

Makhtal was arrested on the border of Kenya and Somalia in 2006 after fleeing Mogadishu and the fall of the Islamic Courts Union.

He was questioned in Nairobi and eventually put on a top-secret flight to Ethiopia where he was charged with multiple counts of terrorism for allegedly being a ringleader with the Ogaden National Liberation Front — an ethnic Somali group formed to fight for independence in the oil rich region.

Baird took an interest in the case long before he was foreign affairs minister, proclaiming Makhtal’s innocence. He visited Addis Ababa, and met with Makhtal in 2010.

“When John Baird was the minister, this case was clearly an important case for him,” says Makhtal’s lawyer Lorne Waldman. “He prioritized it because of the strong Somali community in his riding and he made it clear he was committed to the case. After he left from what we can see no one has taken any interest in the file.”

The decision to accept the transfer followed an impassioned plea in late January to Prime Minister Stephen Harper to intervene, which failed.

Makhtal was offered the deal two years ago, but rejected that option last year because he said he was innocent.

But since then his health has rapidly deteriorated and he decided to accept the terms of the prison transfer which would see him serve five more years in a Canadian prison, said Waldman.

After Makhtal made his decision, Waldman confirmed with officials in Public Safety Canada that his client wanted to proceed. Canadian consular officials also confirmed with Makhtal in Ethiopia that he accepted the terms as well, his cousin said.

“From then until now we haven’t heard anything, zero,” said Waldman. “It’s gone into a black hole. It was already approved. It was just a matter of going forward. I can’t understand the delay at this point.”

Somali Militants Carry Out Deadly Attack in Northeast Kenya - The New York Times

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NAIROBI, Kenya — Shabab militants killed 14 people and wounded 11 in the northeastern Kenyan town of Mandera on Tuesday, a government official said, the latest attack in the region by the Somali Islamist group.

The grenade attack took place around 2 a.m. at a compound near a livestock market, according to officials, and most of the victims were miners from other parts of Kenya.

“I can confirm an Al Shabaab attack in Mandera early this morning,” the police inspector general, Joseph Boinnet, said on Twitter. “Regrettably 14 persons dead and 11 injured.”

A spokesman for the Shabab confirmed that the organization was responsible. “We are behind the Mandera attack. We killed over 10 Kenyan Christians,” Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, a spokesman for the group’s military operations, told Reuters. “This is part of our ongoing operations against Kenya.”

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The Kenyan Red Cross, which sent a team of doctors and paramedics from the capital, Nairobi, said on Twitter that it had airlifted eight patients to the Kenyatta National Hospital there.

Mandera is in the northeastern corner of Kenya, along the borders with Somalia and Ethiopia.

Last year, 28 teachers were killed as they were traveling in the region for the end-of-year holidays. Not long after that episode, dozens of miners were shot and killed after militants separated Muslims from non-Muslims.

The deadliest attack attributed to the Shabab in Kenya took place in April, when 147 students and university staff members were killed at a university in Garissa. One of the militants in that assault came from Mandera, which is about 440 miles northeast of Garissa.

Kenyan officials said this year that they were constructing a security barrier that would stretch for miles along the border with Somalia, in an effort to deter attacks by the Shabab.

Correction: July 7, 2015
An earlier version of this article misstated the surname of a police inspector general. He is Joseph Boinnet, not Boinett.

Attackers kill 14 in Kenya; Al-Shabaab claims responsibility

Al-Shabaab attacked and killed 70 AMISON Soilders in Mogadishu

The African Union Peacekeeping Mission (AMISOM) base at Lego village, 100 kilometres northwest of Mogadishu is manned by Burundian soldiers who are part of the 22,000 AMISOM troops that include Uganda. Spokesman of the Burundi contingent, Col. Paul Jugula confirmed the attack.

Somalia: No Quick Or Easy Solutions

   Next Article → COUNTER-TERRORISM: Useful Advice For Potential Holy Warriors

June 13, 2015: The government believes that al Shabaab will be eliminated as a major security threat by the end of 2015. That may be too optimistic but is not impossible. Currently al Shabaab is operating in about 20 percent of the country and no longer control any towns or cities. The Islamic terrorists now hide in remote villages or thinly populated rural areas. Some al Shabaab have set up camps across the northern border in Puntland, but these are regularly being attacked by local forces. The government admits that there are underlying problems (unemployment, poverty and corruption) that entice young men to join Islamic terror groups or bandit gangs and that until those issues are dealt with there is always the threat of something like al Shabaab returning. The government is also aware of the fact that the foreign donors won’t pay for a peacekeeper force forever and already there is pressure to shift that peacekeeping effort to other parts of Africa. While the Somali economy is improving the country is still crippled by corruption and divided by tribal (clan) loyalties.

In Kenya the government is asking Somali refugees to voluntarily return home and is offering inducements it hopes will persuade at least 100,000 to go back by the end of 2015. This is a big step back from the original plan to expel all (over 600,000) legal and illegal Somali refugees in the country. The expulsion threat came in response to ever more horrendous al Shabaab attacks, including an April 2nd massacre of 148 Christian students at a university campus. The UN promised to help with refugee camp security and moving more of the refugees back to Somalia but strongly opposed expulsion. In Somalia politicians and al Shabaab agree that Kenya must stop mistreating Somalis in Kenya and this attitude is used by al Shabaab for recruiting. The Kenyan government recognizes this problem and talks about curbing violence against Somalis in Kenya but controlling popular hatred of and hostility towards Somalis is difficult. This is particularly true because of the recent al Shabaab terror attacks in Kenya and the centuries of Somalis raiding into Kenya. It’s an old problem that does not lend itself to quick or easy solutions.

Meanwhile the UN has to cut food supplies (30 percent to 1,520 calories a day) to all the refugees in Kenya (mostly Somali but some from Sudan) because not enough donors could be found. There is only so much donor money out there and many donors seek areas where they believe their money will do the most good. Long term refugees (as with the Somalis in Kenya) are not seen as the best use of donor funds. Currently the UN spends about $115 million a year to feed the refugees in northern Kenya. Nearly half that money comes from the United States. Refugee officials continue having problems maintaining security in the Somali refugee camps and a growing number of foreign aid organizations are withdrawing from some camps because of the chronic violence.

Meanwhile there is another refugee situation developing in the north (Somaliland and Djibouti) as Somalis who fled to Yemen are now fleeing Yemen because of a civil war there. While most foreigners have already fled Yemen the Somali refugees in Yemen are trying, without much success, to flee back to Somalia. There are over 300,000 Somalis just across the Gulf of Aden in Yemen, most of them there illegally. Foreigners, particularly illegal migrants, have become a target in Yemen. The most hospitable and accessible refuge for Somalis in Yemen is Somalia. So far about 30,000 have made it back to Somalia (usually Somaliland up north or neighboring Djibouti) so far. The UN is planning to help mover over 100,000 more back to Somalia and Djibouti. The rest try to remain in Yemen, stay out of the way and survive.

June 11, 2015: West of Mogadishu, near the Ethiopian border al Shabaab ambushed a peacekeeper convoy and killed at least a dozen soldiers. Reinforcements soon arrived and drive off the Islamic terrorists.

June 6, 2015: In northwestern Kenya a group of al Shabaab gunmen seeking to attack a tribal leader who frequently criticized Islamic terrorists got lost and shot up the wrong house. Two men and a woman died and the killers fled. A subsequent police investigation concluded that the attackers were al Shabaab because that group had said it was going to “punish” the outspoken tribal leader. Elsewhere in the area rival Turkana and Samburu tribesmen fought over grazing rights and cattle stealing, leaving eleven dead.

June 2, 2015: In northwest Kenya a group of al Shabaab occupied a village and urged the locals to accept their extreme form of Islam. Outside the village the Islamic terrorists set up roadblocks and demanded payment of “taxes” for those who wanted to pass. All this happened 15 kilometers from a military base and soon soldiers showed up and the al Shabaab men slipped away.

June 1, 2015: In central Somalia (Galgadud) a week of violence on the Ethiopian border has left about fifty nomads dead because of attacks by a local militia that serves as an Ethiopian government-approved border guard. The militia has long had problems with the Somali nomads crossing the border at will and this led to a series of attacks to drive the nomads away. Officials from Somalia and Ethiopia are meeting to work out a peace deal.  

May 28, 2015: In the south (Lower Juba) a senior al Shabaab leaders (73 year old Sheikh Hassan Turki) died after an illness. Turki was the chief of finance and had a $3 million price on his head. He will be hard to replace and thus al Shabaab becomes even less capable.

May 26, 2015: In central Somalia (Hiran) peacekeepers and soldiers drove al Shabaab out of several more villages, killing eleven of the Islamic terrorists in the process. Many weapons and some bomb making materials were captured.

May 25, 2015: In the south (Dobley) peacekeepers killed seven al Shabaab men near the Kenyan border.

In northeast Kenya (Garissa) al Shabaab ambushed a police convoy and killed more than a dozen policemen. 

May 23, 2015: In Mogadishu al Shabaab gunmen attacked a car carrying two members of parliament and killed one of them. In the south (Awdhegle and Mubarak) al Shabaab gunmen attacked two villages. Soldiers soon showed up and chased the Islamic terrorists out. All this fighting caused over fifty casualties, mostly among the al Shabaab men.  

May 21, 2015: In northeast Kenya (near Garissa) al Shabaab raided a village. Soldiers soon arrived and the Islamic terrorists fled. There were no casualties.