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Dabiq, magazine of Islamic State, declares African ambitions

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The ISIS terror group has devoted the cover of its official propaganda magazine Dabiq to its ambitions in Africa — Tunisia in particular, as the photo of Tunis’ Great Mosque of Kairouan suggests.

In the magazine’s eighth issue, entitled “Shari’ah alone will rule Africa,” the jihadist organization once again claims responsibility for the March 18 attack at Tunis’ Bardo museum that left 22 people dead and injured dozens more, L’Obs reports.

Dabiq is the official online magazine of ISIS, used for propaganda and recruitment. It was first published in July 2014 in a number of different languages, including English.

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Nigeria: over 7,000 killed by islamists Boko Haram since beginning of 2014

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Boko Haram islamist militants have killed over 7,300 civilians in Nigeria and neighboring countries since the beginning of last year, a UN official says, Press TV reported.

UN deputy humanitarian affairs chief Kyung-wha Kang made the comments on Monday while briefing the Security Council on the humanitarian situation in the region.

“Gross human rights violations, including sexual and gender-based violence and child trafficking, are frequently reported,” said Kang.

She added that 1,000 people have been killed since the beginning of this year alone.

The UN official also warned the council that in regions affected by the terrorist group, 300 schools have been damaged and only 40 percent of health care facilities are functional.

The UN special representative for West Africa, Mohamed Ibn Chambas, also warned the council that troops from Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger, who are taking part in a joint regional offensive against the militants, are reportedly committing human rights violations.

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Somali extremist group Al Shabab’s video shows savage death swim for Christian captives

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The Somali extremist group Al Shabaab have released a new video, showing civilians being forced into the sea and murdered in a hail of gunfire.

Entitled ‘In Remembrance 2’, the video show Al-Shabaab coldly executing civilians with machine guns before leaving the bodies to rot on the beach.

The chilling video is the second part of a two episode series by Al-Shabaab’s main media branch, al-Kataib Foundation.

The horrific scenes show half a dozen fully clothed civilians being forced into the sea, somewhere on the Somali coast.

Al-Shabaab gunmen, armed with machine guns proceed to callously gun down the prisoners in the sea.

Videoed from the beach, sporadic gunshot is shown hitting the exposed heads of the struggling victims.

The water is shown splashing as the hail of gunfire continues from the beach.

Graphic closeup footage of the dead bodies are shown, floating fully clothed in the water. The lifeless bodies appear to be left unburied, with footage later showing one of the corpses rotting on the sand.

Other scenes show a group of six unarmed young Somali men being led out of a small prison room.

Dressed in brightly coloured t-shirts and patterned trousers, the innocent men are forced to form a human chain, holding the waist of the man in front of them.

As they walk past, several of the victims stare sorrowfully into the camera, whilst the others look down at their feet.

Several militants, armed with AK 47s can be seen standing guard, watching to make sure the prisoners do not try to escape.

Forced to sit on the sandy beach, crude blindfolds constructed out of their own shirts are applied to the eyes of the prisoners.

The men are then forced to kneel near the water’s edge. Militants coldly execute the victims with a volley of heavy machine gun fire.

The bodies are shown falling into the sea as the terrorists move on to their next victims.

Using a mixture of archive footage from 2009 and film of recent atrocities, the video embodies the brutal extremist approach being carried out by al-Shabaab in Somalia, Mail Online reports.

The video comes after reports that piracy is making a comeback off the coast of Somalia, following the rise of illegal fishing vessels.

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17 dead after Al-Shabab siege at Somalia hotel

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Residents evacuate an injured boy after Islamist group al Shabaab attacked Maka Al-Mukarama hotel in Mogadishu

Somali troops on Saturday took full control of a hotel that extremist gunmen stormed and occupied for more than 12 hours following a suicide bombing. At least 17 people died and dozens were wounded.

The gunfire has stopped and security agents control the whole building, said senior police officer Capt. Mohamed Hussein. He had earlier said the gunmen were believed to have occupied the third and fourth floors of the Maka Al-Mukarramah hotel in the capital Mogadishu.

“The operation has ended. We have taken full control of the hotel,” Hussein said.

Hussein said security forces found four more bodies in the hotel Saturday, plus nine dead on Friday. Four more people died in the hospital, according to Duniya Mohamed, a doctor at Madina hospital in Mogadishu. Hussein Ali, an official of Mogadishu’s ambulance service, said 28 people were wounded.

There was no immediate indication of how many of the dead were attackers, all of whom were killed according to Hussein.

Somalia’s ambassador to Switzerland and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva, Yusuf Bari-Bari was among those killed in the attack, said Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.

Al-Shabab, an al-Qaida-linked Islamic extremist group that has carried out many attacks in Somalia, claimed responsibility for the assault on the hotel, which is popular with Somali government officials and foreigners.

Al-Shabab controlled much of Mogadishu between 2007 and 2011, but was pushed out of Somalia’s capital and other major cities by African Union forces.

The attack started around 4 p.m. Friday when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden car at the gate of the hotel. Gunmen then quickly moved in.

Hours later, the militants were still holed up in the hotel’s dark corridors and rooms. Sporadic gunfire could be heard, but it appeared that the security forces waited until daybreak before trying again to dislodge the militants.

The terrorists are said to have then stormed into the first, second and third floors of the hotel where rooms are located and held several people hostage.

The attack was condemned by the African Union mission to Somalia in which troops from several African countries support Somalia’s weak government.

“Our message to the perpetrators of this inhuman act is, that their action will not dampen our spirit for the common good of Somalia, but will further strengthen us to work even harder to defeat the enemy of peace and development, with the aim of rebuilding a stronger and stable Somalia,” said Ambassador Maman S. Sidikou, the African Union’s representative in Somalia.

Al-Shabab routinely carries out suicide bombings, drive-by shootings and other attacks in Mogadishu, the seat of Somalia’s Western-backed government, often targeting government troops, lawmakers and foreigners.

Despite major setbacks in 2014, al-Shabab continues to wage a deadly insurgency against Somalia’s government and remains a threat in the East African region.

The group has carried out attacks in neighboring countries, including Kenya, whose military is part of the African Union troops bolstering Somalia’s weak government from al-Shabab insurgency.

At least 67 people were killed in a September 2013 attack by al-Shabab on a mall in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi.

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ISIS, Boko Haram and al-Qaeda training together in Mauritania

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The three largest terrorist networks in the world are training together in the deserts of Mauritania, claims a group that tracks international terrorism worldwide.

According to FOX News, Florida-based Terrorism Research and Analysis Consortium’s Editorial Director Veryan Khan said that the terror groups al-Qaeda, Boko Haram and the Islamic State are running training camps together in remote areas of the African nation where they train jihadists coming from the United States, Canada and some European nations.

Mauritania is close to Nigeria, where Boko Haram has sustained an insurgency in the hopes of carving out an Islamic caliphate similar to the Islamic State.

Khan further revealed to FOX News that its source within the camps found at least 80 Caucascian trainees. The source  said that the camps are far from centres of population, and have complete facilities including mosques and homes for the jihadist trainees. Signs in English can also be found in the camps, which Khan believes is “unmistakable evidence of Westerners’ presence.”

Khan said there is no other reason why these Westerners would be in Mauritania except to train for terrorism.

“This is not a travel destination,” she said.

The TRAC chief said that Mauritania currently hosts the training camps because it is of a lower profile than other Islamic republics like Lebanon, Syria and Iraq.

“The situation in Mauritania is a powder keg very few people are talking about,” Khan noted. “The fear of returning foreign fighters from Syria and Iraq is high, but Mauritania-trained fighters are not even on anyone’s radar.”

FOX News said that TRAC’s source found evidence of ties between Boko Haram and ISIS in the training camps.

Boko Haram pledged allegiance to the Islamic State several weeks ago. ISIS accepted the pledge and urged its believers to go to Nigeria to assist the militant group, which is currently under pressure from a five-nation multinational task force composed of soldiers from Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, Chad and Benin.

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‘Boko Haram threats to dominate Nigeria polls’

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University of South Africa professor, Kealeboga Maphunye says threats by Boko Haram ahead of Nigeria’s elections may steal the thunder from real issues, such as corruption, high inflation and unemployment.

Sixty eight million people are registered to vote. There are 14 candidates contesting in this year’s presidential elections on Saturday.

However the real battle will be between the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan and the All Progressives Congress’s Muhammadu Buhari.

Jonathan is campaigning on a platform of continuity, while Buhari says the time for time for change for Nigeria is now. Both front-runners have promised to tackle the militants as well as corruption.

Boko Haram militants are accused of killing at least 13 000 people since its insurgency began six years ago, and abducting hundreds including nearly 300 school girls in April last year.

Speaking on AM Live, Maphunye says preparations put in place seem to be in order. He says permanent voters cards were introduced to ensure the security and secrecy of the voting process.

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22 Arab nations announce ‘historic’ Unified Military Force to counter Iran, ISIS

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Foreign ministers from 22 Arab countries agreed to form a unified military force on Thursday, approving a draft resolution designed to counter growing security threats in the region.
“The Arab … ministers agreed on adopting an important principle, which is forming the unified Arab military force. The task of the force will be rapid military intervention to deal with security threats to Arab nations,” Arab League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby told reporters after the meeting, Reuters reported.
The agreement, which Elaraby described as “historic,” came shortly after airstrikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen, led by Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies, in an effort to check what is seen as Iran’s growing influence in the region.
Iran has demanded that all military actions in Yemen be immediately halted, and said it would take necessary measures to control the crisis there.
The United States has said it provided “logistical and intelligence support” to the Saudi-led coalition attacking the Houthi positions. The decision to launch the airstrikes was made without significant involvement from Washington, according to the Daily Beast.
Egyptian TV reportedly said that the Arab League will coordinate with the chiefs of staff of the various Arab nations’ armies to organize the new force within one month. Egyptian officials also announced that a ground invasion of Yemen will follow the airstrikes.
A naval blockade has been imposed by the Saudi ship Firmness Storm on a strait that connects the Red Sea to the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean, and provides passage to the Mediterranean Sea.
The strait is used by Egypt, Sudan, Jordan, Yemen, Djibouti and Saudi Arabia, among other nations. Four Egyptian vessels were spotted en route to secure the Gulf of Aden, off the city where President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi was based out of after leaving the capital city of Sanaa, and before being forced to flee the country.
Al Arabiya reported that at least 150,000 Saudi ground troops have been mobilized along with fighter jets and naval units, as part of the move codenamed, “Operation Decisive Storm.”
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation, another regional body of Islamic states, affirmed its support for the deal and said it is monitoring the situation in Yemen closely. The Syrian National Coalition, an alliance of Syrian fighters allied with the West, also said it supported the operation and reasserted its recognition of Hadi as Yemen’s “legitimate” leader.
The Arab world is currently facing unprecedented threats on multiple fronts. In Yemen, Houthi militants believed to have Iranian backing have taken over large swathes of the country including its official capital. In Libya, a civil war is raging between a government that controls the capital of Tripoli, and the internationally recognized government — aided by Arab and Egyptian airstrikes — based out of the city of Tobruk.
In Syria, a civil war has raged on for four years between President Bashar Assad’s government, which is backed by Iran, and loose coalitions of militants, as well as the Islamic State group. ISIS has taken over significant portions of Iraq and Syria, has expanded into Libya, and has been drawing membership from across the Islamic world, recently gaining the loyalty of Nigerian extremist group Boko Haram and claiming responsibility for a deadly terror attack in Tunisia.
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Top Al-Shabaab commander captured in Somalia

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A top commander of the Somali Islamist group al-Shabaab was captured Thursday as he was preparing attacks in the country’s capital, a senior intelligence officer said.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it was too early to name the commander, because investigations were still underway.

He was captured with three other suspected al-Shabaab militants as security forces stormed their hideout in northern Mogadishu.

Security forces seized weapons, explosives and ammunition.

The commander is believed to have masterminded several suicide attacks or assassinations in Mogadishu over the past few months, the source said, declining to give more details.

Government spokesman Ridwan Hagi Abdiwali confirmed that the four had been captured and said the government would soon release full information.

Al-Shabaab issued no comment.

The group, which seeks a state with the strictest application of Islamic law, has killed dozens of people in suicide attacks in Mogadishu this year.

The government is also engaged in a military conflict with al-Shabaab with the backing of African Union troops.

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Nigeria: Boko Haram uses human shields to fight government offensive

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Boko Haram is using human shields made up of abducted civilians to field a major offensive by the Nigerian army and neighbouring countries.

Mike Omeri, the director-general of the National Orientation Agency, said he was awaiting for reports from Damasak, Borno state, to ascertain the number of abducted civilians who are being used as shields, news agencies Sapa and AP reported.

“Some say 500, some 400, some say 300,” Omeri said.

He said insurgents had released some women and children, but not those they had “married in the period of occupation”.

Troops from Chad and Niger who have recaptured Damasak said the town is almost deserted and there is evidence of a mass grave; soldiers found the decomposed bodies of more than 70 people under a bridge on a road leading out of the town.

The recapture occurred shortly after reports emerged that Boko Haram kidnapped at least 500 children from Damask.

In February, Nigerian troops were joined by  soldiers from Niger, Chad, Benin and Cameroon to help in the fight against the insurgents. Around 7,000 African Unions troops are expected to be deployed.

The major offensive started shortly after current President Goodluck Jonathan postponed by six weeks presidential election, which will take place on 28 March, amid security concerns as Boko Haram continued to carry out deadly attacks in the north east of the country.

The offensive has regained several territories previously captured by the terrorists. However, experts have warned that violence is guaranteed during the election, as Boko Haram vowed to disrupt the polls.

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ISIS reaches out to Somali terror group Al-Shabaab

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It has long been feared that ISIS could ally with Somali terror group al-Shabaab, which has been tied to al-Qaeda. As Osama bin Laden’s gang fades and the Islamic State rises, ISIS might look like a better partner for the Somalian militants. ISIS recently accepted an oath of fealty from Boko Haram in Nigeria.

Last October, the United Arab Emirates warned that the Islamic State might be interested in a similar arrangement with al-Shabaab, a prospect the UAE foreign minister described as frightening given his nation’s sizable Somali population.

In the United States, Minnesota has dealt with a wave of Somali-Americans running off to join al-Shabaab. Last month, the Somali terror gang released a video urging Muslims living in the U.S., U.K., and Canada to stage shopping mall massacres like the one it perpetrated at the Westgate Mall in Kenya. Some of the al-Shabaab operatives involved in that slaughter were Somali-American expatriates.

According to a report at Al-Jazeera, an ISIS emissary sent a message to Somalia shortly before Boko Haram bent its knees to the caliphate, inviting the “emir” of al-Shabaab to do likewise. The message praised al-Shabaab as “brothers in Somalia” and called on them to launch attacks “inside Kenya, Tanzania, and Ethiopia.”

An alliance could prove useful for ISIS, as al-Shabaab is said to be doing brisk recruiting business in those African nations, using “slick recruitment videos and magazines” which “play upon the marginalization of Muslims and show details of high-profile attacks in Kenya.”

Al-Shabaab has also been playing off the alleged excesses of Kenyan anti-terrorism forces, and the death of a few high-profile terrorist leaders. One bit of propaganda deployed by an underground group allied with al-Shabaab suggested to Somalian jihadis looking for bloody adventure in Kenya that “paradise is just a taxi ride away.”

There seems to be a power struggle within al-Shabaab, with some of the players seeking to honor their existing commitments to al-Qaeda, while others think it would be better to line up with the hot new kids on the head-chopping block in ISIS.

“None of this bodes well for East Africa, which could either see an influx of foreign fighters if ISIL gains a foothold, or increasing links to al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula as Yemen becomes more unstable,” speculates Al-Jazeera.

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