Free Republic

U.S. forces killed an estimated 52 members of the militant Islamic terrorist group al Shabab in airstrikes in Jilib, Somalia, on Saturday, U.S. Africa Command reported. "U.S. Africa Command conducted the airstrike in response to an attack by a large group of al-Shabaab militants against Somali National Army Forces," U.S. Africa Command, the branch of the military that coordinates with allies on the continent, said in a statement. The strike was part of a broader effort to prevent the terrorist group from "taking advantage of safe havens from which they can build capacity and attack the people of Somalia."

The Al-Shabaab terrorist group said on Wednesday it carried out the deadly attack on a Nairobi hotel and office complex in retaliation for US President Donald Trump's declaration of Jerusalem as Israel's capital last December, AFP reported. The group said in a statement picked up by the SITE monitoring group that its fighters stormed the DusitD2 complex on instructions by Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. "It is a response to the witless remarks of the US president, Donald Trump, and his declaration of Al-Quds (Jerusalem) as the capital of Israel," said Al-Shabaab. The assault with guns and explosives claimed the lives...

The Islamist terror group al-Shabaab has said it has killed five people including a Briton whom it accused of spying. Three of the men publicly shot dead in al-Shabaab-controlled territory in Somalia were accused of spying for the US government and one for Somali authorities. The fifth is thought to have been Mohammed Ahmed Mohamed, 32, a terrorism suspect who gave British authorities the slip in 2013 by cutting off his electronic tag, putting on a burqa and walking out of a west London mosque. The al-Qaida-linked group routinely shoots people accused of being spies, though often these are simply...

A U.S. special-operations forces service member was killed and four others were wounded in Somalia Friday after they came under small-arms and mortar fire from suspected members of an al Qaeda affiliate, the Pentagon said. A local service member also died, defense officials said. Three of the wounded U.S. service members and the one local fighter who was wounded in the attack were medically evacuated, the Pentagon said. The fourth wounded U.S. service member was treated in country, the Pentagon said. The attack, at about 2:45 p.m. local time in Jubaland in southwest Somalia, happened during what was supposed to...

It is certainly a contender. Fox 9 television uncovers a far-reaching scandal: last year, more than $100 million in cash left the Twin Cities airport in carry-on luggage, bound for the Middle East and Africa: This story begins at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, where mysterious suitcases filled with cash have become a common carry-on. On the morning of March 15, Fox 9 chased a tip about a man who was leaving the country. Sources said he took a carry-on bag through security that was packed with $1 million in cash. Travelers can do that, as long as they fill out...

Reports are surfacing about a stabbing attack at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. We are going to go ahead and speculate that this is a case of knife jihad. There are a few reasons for this:

Death toll from Mogadishu truck bomb rises to 276 in deadliest single attack ever in Somalia's capitalThe death toll from a truck bomb that exploded near to a hotel and market in Mogadishu rose to 276 on Sunday, making it the worst terrorist atrocity in the country's history. Saturday's savage attack targeted a busy street close to several important ministries in Somalia's capital. Officials say about 300 people were wounded. "This is the deadliest attack ever," police official Ibrahim Mohamed told AFP. "It is very difficult to get a precise number because the dead bodies were taken to different medical...

A former Royal Marine awarded the George Cross for saving hundreds of people during the Westgate Mall terror raid has killed two people after being ambushed in Kenya. Dominic Troulan, 54, was shot twice in the leg during the attack in Nairobi after gunmen riding on a motorbike attacked him. The veteran, who spent 30 years in the military before retiring as a major, became the first civilian to win the George Cross in decades for his bravery during the 2013 mall siege in Nairobi. At least 67 people were murdered in the attac but Troulan saved the lives of...

The man who plowed a car into a crowd at Ohio State University before stabbing several pedestrians with a butcher knife on Monday is said to have referred to American-born Al Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki as a “hero” on his social media accounts. Law enforcement sources told Fox News on Tuesday that the reference of al-Awlaki on Abdul Razak Ali Artan’s social media accounts is “deeply concerning” because it could suggest he was self-radicalized before launching the attack. While a motive has not been confirmed, authorities are looking into whether the car-and-knife attack by the Somali-born student was an anti-U.S. terrorist attack.

At least 15 people have been killed in an attack on a hotel in the Somali capital Mogadishu that was swiftly claimed by Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al Shabaab militants, police said. The death toll includes guards, civilians and militants. The assault was led by a suicide attacker driving a car laden with explosives The attack began at 4:30 pm (11:30 pm AEST) with a powerful blast followed by heavy gunfire, an AFP journalist and a witness said. The Naasa Hablood hotel in southern Mogadishu is often used by politicians and members of the Somali diaspora visiting the city.

A major U.S. airstrike has reportedly killed more than 150 al-Shabaab militants in Somalia, the Pentagon confirmed, nearly a year after the Islamic terror group slaughtered almost 150 Christian students in Kenya. "We know they were going to be departing the camp and they posed an imminent threat to U.S. and [African Union] forces," spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said, according to BBC News. "Initial assessments are that more than 150 terrorist fighters were eliminated," he added. The strikes targeted Raso Camp, which is located 120 miles from the capital of Mogadishu, and has been under surveillance for some time now....

A Muslim teacher who shielded Christian fellow passengers when their bus was attacked by Islamist militants has died in surgery to treat his bullet wound. Salah Farah was on a bus traveling through Mandera in Kenya when it was attacked by al-Shabab in December. The attackers told the Muslims and Christians to split up, but he was among Muslim passengers who refused. A bullet hit Mr. Farah and almost a month on, he died in hospital in the capital, Nairobi. ...

The government of Somalia has issued a ban on Christmas and New Year's celebrations in the Muslim country, saying the festivities "have nothing to do with Islam." "We warn against celebration of Christmas, which is only for Christians," Sheikh Mohamed Kheyrow, director of Somalia’s ministry of religion, said on state radio. "This is a matter of faith. The Christmas holiday and its drum beatings have nothing to with Islam." He said the ministry has sent letters to the police, national security intelligence and officials in the capital Mogadishu instructing them to "prevent Christmas celebrations." The announcement had echoes of Islamist...

Their M.O. is a tried and terrifying one: Launch a raid, single out Christians, and then spray them with bullets. But when Al-Shabaab militants ambushed a bus Monday, things didn't go according to plan. A group of Kenyan Muslims shielded the Christian passengers and told the attackers they were prepared to die together. The Muslim passengers, who were mostly women, told the Islamic militants to kill them all or leave them alone, witnesses said. The bus was headed to the city of Mandera, near the border with Somalia and Ethiopia. The journey is such a security risk that most buses...

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A Minnesota man charged with recruiting terrorists is in custody in Africa. A State Department spokesperson tells WCCO Muhammed Abdullah Hassan, known as Mujahid Miski online, turned himself in Somalia. The Roosevelt High School graduate returned to his native Somalia after high school in 2008, pledging allegiance to terrorist group Al-Shabab. When Paris endured its first round of terrorism this year at the Charlie Hebdo magazine office, most were condemning the acts. But via twitter, this young Minnesotan was praising the act. Officials say a Roosevelt High School grad, the young man known as *Miski* has been...

ISIS has released a video purportedly showing a group of Al Shabaab militants switching allegiance from Al Qaeda and pledging loyalty to the Islamic State. The video, obtained by The Foreign Desk, shows several dozen young fighters sitting together with one jihadi issuing a call to all Muslims, but specifically the ‘Mujahideen in Somalia,’ to join the ‘khilafah,’ or army of the Islamic State. He praises Abdiqadir Mumin, a charismatic preacher who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State last month, in the first such move by the Somali terror group, which aligned itself with Al Qaeda in 2012. At the...

Six months ago, authorities seized a cargo plane in Bangkok that contained 35 tons of North Korean military weapons. These included versions of the Chinese HN-5 “man-portable air defense system,” or MANPADS. The MANPADS were being shipped to Iran. The HN-5 — a copy of the Soviet SA-7— is less capable than the MANPADS Iran produces on its own. Why, you ask, would Iran be importing more primitive missiles than the ones it already makes? The only conceivable answer is that Iran was planning to provide North Korean missiles to Iran’s proxy terrorist groups, to gain plausible deniability in case...

Somali terror group Al-Shabaab could soon scrap its allegiance to Al-Qaeda and pledge loyalty to rivals ISIS instead, MailOnline has learned. Islamic State invited the east-African jihadi group to join forces with them through a propaganda video released in March - urging it to wage jihad on neighbouring Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania. Now Al-Shabaab members and sources within the Somali army suggest the invitation will be accepted and the group - which commands around 9,000 fighters - will soon extend ISIS's self-proclaimed caliphate to east-Africa. The decision comes at a time when many of Al-Shabaab's local and foreign leaders are...

An Islamist radical recruited to Somalia from Minneapolis inspired the would-be “Texas Terror” killers, who were gunned down in Garland, Texas Sunday night by a sharp-shooting law enforcement officer before they could carry out their mass-murder plot at an art exhibit sponsored by First Amendment heroine Pamela Geller. It’s just the latest example of how and why Minneapolis—and specifically the congressional district of Muslim Democrat Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) —has become ground zero for the threat to the United States from Islamist terror groups such as ISIS and Al-Shabaab. ... The terrorist threat emanates from the Minneapolis neighborhood known as...

'It's time for brothers in the U.S. to do their part': American jihadi allegedly called for attack on Texas Muhammad drawing contest An American jihadi allegedly called for a copycat Charlie Hebdo shooting at a Texas 'draw Muhammad' event more than a week before it was attacked by two gunmen. Mohamed Abdullahi Hassan, a 25-year-old fighter with the Al Shabaab terrorist group in Somalia, is thought to have posted messages urging violence against the event in the city of Garland, pre-empting the eventual attack. The two armed men were shot dead by security after they opened fire outside the Muhammad...