COMMENTARY ON ISLAMIC WEBSITES
Amiir Nuur - The pro-al-Shabaab website claimed that they started training young Islamist officers selected from various al-Shabaab Mujahideen administrations in southern Somalia. The younger officers had actual fighting experience at the front-lines and they will be trained as officers that will lead Mujahideens. The infidels and their supporters are worried about the new military strategy of al-Shabaab of training young officers with actual fighting experience.Somali Language
POLITICS
IOL News - United Nations heavyweights on Tuesday expressed concern that Somalia's transitional administration is behind on a timetable to set up a permanent government by August. The United States, Britain, France and Germany all warned Somalia's president at a Security Council meeting that international support was conditional on reaching key political targets. With Somali and African forces claiming decisive victories over Islamic rebels, the United Nations has already extended the mandate for the transitional government for one year to August 20. Western nations say the date cannot be extended again. The Security Council said in a statement that with time running out, the political process is now at a "critical phase". Council members praised progress made so far, but "expressed concern that some deadlines for the completion of tasks had already been missed".
Garowe Online - Puntland President Abdirahman Mohamed Farole said he supports India’s assistance with anti piracy operations off the coast Somalia, Radio Garowe reports. President Farole, who is currently in India after receiving an official invite from India’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said he supports India naval operations to fight piracy off of the coast of Puntland. President Farole said at an event hosted by the India Council for World Affairs (ICWA) in New Delhi, that training for Puntland naval forces would strengthen Puntland’s fight against piracy. The Puntland government has successfully thwarted pirate operations on land, but has had less success on sea.
US Department of State - The United States has been and remains extremely focused—as do all members of the international community—on combating the terrorist threat that al-Shabaab poses, as an active threat not only to Somali but to the people of the region and beyond, in particular, given its active affiliation with Al-Qaeda. So we’ll continue to work with partners in Somalia and beyond to deal effectively with the al-Shabaab threat.
SECURITY/AL-SHABAAB
The Atlanta Journal Constitution - Attackers fired shots and detonated four grenades outside a nightclub in Kenya's coastal town of Mombasa after they were denied entry, killing a security guard and wounding five people, including one of the assailants, police officials said Wednesday. The attack was the second explosion on Tuesday blamed on Kenyan recruits of an al-Qaida-linked militant group in Somalia. Aggrey Adoli, the police chief on Kenya's coast, said the guard died in the hospital while five people were receiving treatment for wounds from Tuesday night's attack. "We do believe we have the right person who did it and this is a result of the investigations carried out," Iteere said.
MARITIME
Daily Mail - Flames erupt into the sky from a skiff floating adrift in the Indian Ocean, a powerful demonstration of the Royal Navy’s might as it fights the scourge of Somali piracy. The boat was blown out of the water by a Merlin helicopter, flown from HMS Westminster, which strafed the vessel, setting fire to fuel tanks. The pirate crew fled to another vessel before the attack, but were among 12 arrested without a fight by boarding teams from the frigate shortly after. (This story was also reported by Somalia Report yesterday, link here.)
WAR CRIMES/DIASPORAS
The Republic - The former prime minister of Somalia is asking a federal appeals court in Richmond to rule that he can't be sued over alleged war crimes. A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Court of Appeals hears arguments in Mohamed Ali Samantar's case Wednesday. Samantar was a top official in dictator Siad Barre's regime, serving throughout the 1980s as vice president, defense minister and prime minister. He left Somalia after the regime's collapse in 1991 and eventually settled in Fairfax County. In 2004, he was sued by several Somalis who claimed they suffered brutal repression, including torture and mass killings, under the regime.
RADIO ROUNDUP
Radio Mogadishu - A pro-government radio station
Al-Qaeda militias lead by Yusuf Ise Kabo Kutukade fled from Galhareri, Galcad and Masagawaay districts in central Somalia after they learned that Ahlusunna Wal Jamaa (ASWJ) forces were planning to wage attacks on those districts. Abdi Hassan Mohamed, a ASWJ military officer, told Radio Mogadishu they prepared their forces and will soon reach the entire districts and villages in central Somalia.
Radio Andalus - A pro-al-Shabaab radio station
At least two militias were killed and five others injured as two groups of pro-infidels militias fought in Hariyale village of Wardhiglay district in Mogadishu on Wednesday. The cause of the fighting remains unknown, but the pro-infidels militias always fight over bribe money they take from the Somali people. Meanwhile gunmen shot and killed a top pro-infidel police officer in the center of Bakara market on Wednesday. The murders immediately escaped from the scene.
Hundreds of al-Shabaab military officers finished their training in an al-Shabaab military camp in southern Somalia on Tuesday. The military spokesman of al-Shabaab Mujahideen Sheikh Abdiaziz Abu Muscab addressed the newly trained officers and advised them to take part in the fighting against the infidels who invaded the Somali Muslim country. This group will be the first military officers, who have graduated from al-Shabaab training camps.
Radio Al-Furqaan - A pro-al-Shabaab radio station
At least six pro-Kenyan militias (pro-government militias, Ras Kamboni fighters) were killed after Kenyan forces shelled the militia’s bases in Qoqani district of Lower Shabelle region on Tuesday night. The shelling happened, while the militias were chewing Qaat, but the reason remains unknown.
Radio Bar-Kulan - An independent radio station
Somali forces at the border town of Dhobley on Wednesday morning arrested three people who were accused of plotting attacks in the area in an operation aimed at bolstering security situation in the area. A woman was among those arrested for her alleged links with al-Shabaab rebel group in the region. The trio were said to be on their last stage of a planned attacks in the area and the neighboring Kenya. Speaking to Bar-Kulan, a TFG official in Dhobley town, Hanad Farah, alleged that the woman was planning to carry out attacks inside Kenya.
Al-Shabaab militants last night raided Ahlu Sunna and Ethiopian bases on the outskirts of El-bur town, Galgadud region. Confirming the incident, Ahlu Sunna’s area security boss Abdi Hassan Mohamoud told Bar-Kulan that heavily armed militants launched a nighttime attack on their bases. He said they repelled the attackers adding that they killed two militant fighters during the Tuesday night incident. He also claimed they seriously injured two other militant fighters who were part of the attackers.
Radio Shabelle - An independent radio station
The Kenyan military have reportedly killed two local businessmen and injured another one in Somalia’s Lower Jubba region. Witnesses confirmed to Shabelle Media that the killings came after soldiers from the Kenyan army based a camp on the outskirts of Taabta area opened fire on people they suspected of having links with al-Shabaab, instantly killing the two traders. Locals have expressed concern and anxiety over the brutal killings of Somali businessmen by the Kenyan military. “We condemn the killing of our beloved brothers without meaning and we call upon Kenyan government to investigate into the incident soon and bring those who committed the killings into justice,” residents said.