July 4, 2016 | Morning Headlines
AU And SNA Move To Capture Back Rabdhure
03 June – Source: Goobjoog News – 269 Words
AU troops and SNA soldiers have moved to capture back Rabdhure town, residents and officials said. The troops settled their bases, with the aim of strengthening their presence in the area. SNA commander who asked not to be named said on Sunday that the move would ensure the town is secured from Al-Shabaab fighters. “We cannot just abandon its responsibility,” said the commander. “We are still manning our areas of operation in the area, which is an expansive area and we can take defensive positions in any part of that region.”
The media reported on Saturday that the troops withdrew from Rabdhure town, information attributed to residents who were quoted as saying there was movement of troops. However, the commander said movement of troops was expected anywhere within the region and should not be construed to mean withdrawal from the region. “After all, there is a reason that took us to this region, which is to liberate and pacify those areas, and the mission is still on,” he said.
Al-Shabaab has recently increased their attacks against AU and Somali forces in several regions after the group has seen a surge of attacks that resulted in the loss of several strategic towns. The AMISOM forces have also increased airstrikes in southern Somalia in the recent past, killing more than 50 militants earlier month in Gedo region. Al-Shabaab lost key strongholds in between 2012 and 2013 to the AU troops and Somali National Army, but the group has since carried out deadly attacks in the Somali capital.
Key Headlines
- AU And SNA Move To Capture Back Rabdhure (Goobjoog News)
- A Senior SNA Commander Injured In Gun Attack (Shabelle News)
- Security Forces Seize Bomb-laden Car In Mogadishu (Goobjoog News)
- Militant Mortar Fire Kills Two In Somalia (The Gulf Today)
- Kenya Government Begins With Repatriation Of Somali Refugees (Xinhua)
- Minnesota Woman’s Guilty Plea Revealed In Case Against Alleged Ringleaders Of Online Network (Star Tribune)
NATIONAL MEDIA
A Senior SNA Commander Injured In Gun Attack
03 June – Source: Shabelle News – 99 Words
A senior Somali military commander has been wounded when unknown Gunmen have attacked his vehicle near Abudwak town in central Somalia on Sunday, reports said. Abdiwali Siad has survived an assassination attempt on his life by armed assailants who opened fire on his car while travelling at Meerqalaf area located between Abudwak and Adado towns. The wounded army officer was flown to Mogadishu by a chartered plane from Adado city, the current seat of the newly established Interim Galmudug administration. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack on the army colonel.
Security Forces Seize Bomb-laden Car In Mogadishu
03 July – Source: Goobjoog News – 324 Words
An explosives-laden car has been seized by the Somali security forces in the capital Mogadishu on Saturdaynight, a week after a suicide car bomb attack on Nasa Hablood Hotel which killed 16 people. The car was captured along the busy road of EX-control-KM4, with the security forces partially closing the road for safety reasons. NISA said that they had prior information that a vehicle carrying explosives was planning to carry out an attack. Bomb disposal experts disposed the bomb setup inside the car following an examination.
According to the Somali National News Agency (SONNA) the car was laden with improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and other weapons including RPGs and other assault rifles. No suspects were arrested for the failed terrorism bid. At least 16 people were killed on Saturday in the attack on Nasa Hablood Hotel that was swiftly claimed by al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Shabaab militants.
The assault, the latest in a series of deadly attacks by the terrorist targeting hotels and restaurants, began when a suicide bomber detonated a car laden with explosives outside the building. Gunmen then stormed the Naasa Hablood hotel and gunfire rang out for several hours, witnesses said, before the authorities declared the attack over. “The attack started with a heavy blast carried out by a brother who drove a car loaded with explosives. Gunmen fought their way into the hotel, and we believe that casualties were inflicted in the enemy’s ranks,” Al-Shabaab said.
Among those killed in the attacked were three Goobjoog news staff. Saturday’s assault came just three weeks after another attack quickly claimed by Al-Shabaab on the city’s Ambassador hotel which also left 10 dead including two lawmakers. Al-Shabaab lost their foothold in the capital in 2011 but continue their battle to overthrow the Somali government and launch regular attacks on military, government and civilian targets like hotels and restaurants in Mogadishu and elsewhere.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Militant Mortar Fire Kills Two In Somalia
03 June – Source: Gulf Today – 228 Words
Two people were killed and 18 were wounded early Saturday in the south-western Somali town of Baidoa in a mortar attack by suspected Al-Shabaab militants, a senior official said. “Al-Shabaab militants fired mortar shells late last night, striking different neighbourhoods in Baidoa,” the governor of Bay region, Abdirashid Abdullahi, said. “The casualty number reached about 20, two of them died and eighteen others were hospitalised, five of them with minor injuries,” he added.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility from Al-Shabaab, an Al Qaeda-affiliated group blamed for a string of bloody attacks in Somalia and neighbouring Kenya. Witnesses said that most of the shells landed in civilian areas close to Baidoa’s airport, where the biggest Ethiopian base in the AMISOM mission is located.
“There were several blasts near the airport but most of them landed (on) houses occupied by civilians, several people died and others wounded,” Musdhaf Sheik Mumin, a resident said. Al-Shabaab were forced out of the capital, Mogadishu, five years ago but continue to carry out regular attacks on military, government and civilian targets in their battle to overthrow the internationally-backed administration. This year is considered critical for the group, which is eager to disrupt an expected change of government leadership due in the coming months.
Kenya Government Begins With Repatriation Of Somali Refugees
03 July – Source: Xinhua – 529 Words
The Kenyan government has kicked off voluntary repatriation of Somali refugees at the Dadaab, the world’s largest refugee camp in northeast part of the country. A total of 180 refugees drawn from different camps left for Dobley in Somalia aboard buses to the Liboi border point where UN refugee agency and the Somali government will take over their transport home. Northeastern Regional Coordinator Mohamud Saleh said on Friday the government has also started the verification exercise of the refugees at the camps.
Saleh said the actual repatriation may take up to one month because of the huge number of refugees that is involved. Somali refugees who have been living at the Dadaab camp for years had decided to voluntarily leave and not wait for the government to repatriate them. “We fear that the exercise might end up being inhuman and that is why we have opted to go by ourselves,” said Mohamed Abdi, a refugee from Ifo 2 camp.
Those who left were destined to Kismayu, Baidayo and Luuq in Sothern Somalia. They are provided with information about places they are going to resettle. Each family is given a stipend of 2000 U.S. dollars to start off a new life. Kenya, UNHCR and Somalia have laid down plans to repatriate about 150,000 Somali refugees by the end of 2016. The plan was revealed last week in a statement issued after the Tripartite Commission for the Voluntary Repatriation of Somali refugees in Kenya held a meeting over the weekend.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“They weren’t doing big sums of money and were likely under the guise of aid work in some capacity. They were speaking in codes; they knew what they were doing.”
Minnesota Woman’s Guilty Plea Revealed In Case Against Alleged Ringleaders Of Online Network
03 July – SOurce: Star Tribune – 874 Words
Two years before federal agents searched her Twin Cities home in 2014, Amina Mohamud Esse told fellow members of an online community that sent money to Al-Shabab that the FBI had contacted her. It was a lie. She wanted out. Esse will testify later this month in Virginia against the alleged ringleaders of a network prosecutors say sent thousands of dollars overseas to the Somali militant group, according to court documents unsealed this week.
Her case, including a November 2014 guilty plea on charges of supporting Al-Shabab, had been kept secret until now over concerns for her safety and the investigation. Esse admitted to sending roughly $850 to a Nairobi-based co-conspirator in a series of payments at the direction of Muna Osman Jama,, who awaits a July 11federal bench trial in Virginia along with Hinda Osman Dhirane,.
Esse is still awaiting sentencing, pending the outcome of her cooperation. The single mother has moved and is under government protection, attorney Robert Sicoli, said. She offered to cooperate shortly after her 2014 arrest. “She basically said that she felt bad for what she had done,” Sicoli said. “She remembered specifically that when she needed help financially, the [U.S.] government had come to her assistance.”
Esse’s role in the scheme, and her eventual reluctance, are documented throughout a 69-page trial brief filed by the government ahead of the trial. In summer 2012, Esse warned Jama that she had been contacted by the FBI. But, according to court documents, it was a lie designed to distance herself from the defendants.