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The U.S. military plans to scale back its role in Somalia and curtail airstrikes against al-Shabab insurgents after having taken out many of the group's senior operatives, two senior U.S. officials told NBC News, the latest signal the Trump administration is looking to cut the number of troops deployed around the world. The move reflects an assessment by the administration that while the Shabab insurgency remains a threat to the Somali government and neighboring countries, it does not pose a direct danger to the U.S., current and former officials said. And it follows President Donald Trump's abrupt announcement last month...

OHANNESBURG — The U.S. military’s Africa command says its forces conducted an airstrike against Islamic extremists in Somalia last week, approximately 30 miles northwest of Kismayo, killing eight militants and destroying one vehicle. In its statement released Monday, the U.S. Africa Command said that it assess no civilians were killed in the strike. The statement said U.S. forces will continue to use “all authorized and appropriate measures” to protect U.S. citizens and to disable extremist threats. This includes partnering with the multinational African force in Somalia and the Somali National Security Forces to attack the extremist rebels of al-Shabab, their...

The U.S. military has requested that the White House grant it more freedom in its approach to fighting a terror group that has been wreaking havoc in North Africa in recent years, Military.com reported. Aggressions by the al-Shabab militant group in Somalia could erupt into an all-out war, but the head of U.S. Africa Command was looking for ways to avoid turning the country into a "free-fire zone," he said Friday. Specifically, Marine Gen. Thomas Waldhauser was looking for "a little bit more flexibility" to "process targets in a more rapid fashion," he told reporters at the Pentagon. That "flexibility"...

How does a Somali get elected to Minnesota’s state legislature? Because she’s from “Little Somalia,” Minneapolis, home to the largest Somali community in America. So it should come as not surprise that a Somali activist unseated one of the longest-serving members of the state legislature earlier this year in Minneapolis. Ilhan Omar defeated Rep. Phyllis Kahn who was in the legislature for 22 terms (44 years). Omar could be the first Somali in America to be elected to any state legislature if she wins in November. Minneapolis is recruiting ground for young terrorists. At least 36 Somali men from Minnesota...

[Subtitle:] Trump called state a terror recruitment hotbed.[PHOTO caption:] Mohamoud Ibrahim, right, a specialist in the Army Reserve, said goodbye to his friends after the Friday prayer at the Islamic Institute of Minnesota's mosque in Burnsville, MN, Friday, August 5, 2016. Ibrahim will leave for Wisconsin on Saturday for three weeks for Army training.Mahamoud Ibrahim stewed about Donald Trump as he packed for a three-week U.S. Army Reserve training. In a Thursday speech, the Republican presidential candidate suggested that Somali refugees have turned Minnesota into a hotbed for terror recruitment and frayed its social safety net. . .

As the Clinton-led State Department dragged its feet against Boko Haram, Clinton Foundation donors made millions from Nigerian oil fields The attacks on Jan. 20, 2012, began not so much as an explosion but as an earthquake. ....In coordinated bombings at 23 separate locations in the city of Kano, including police headquarters and military barracks, the group left one of Africa’s largest cities in disarray and panic. The January attacks killed more than 185 people—Africa’s worst terrorism since the 1998 al-Qaeda attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. ...Boko Haram often showed up better equipped than the Nigerian military...prominently...

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at the gate of a Mogadishu hotel, followed by a second explosion heard inside the hotel as gunmen fought their way inside, police said Saturday. At least four bodies were seen outside the hotel, one officer said.

A large explosion has rocked a hotel in the centre of the Somali capital Mogadishu and there is ongoing gunfire after what is suspected to be an al-Shabab attack. The BBC's Ibrahim Aden, in Mogadishu, says the blast hit the Naso Hablod hotel, a mile from the city's airport. There is no word on casualties. Reports say there may have been a second blast. Al-Shabab Islamists frequently carry out attacks in the city in their bid to topple the Western-backed government.

Everyone wants a piece of Djibouti. It’s all about the bases. ... the New Jersey-sized nation. Yet its quiet stability within the volatile Horn of Africa has made the country of just 875,000 people a hub for the world’s superpowers. ... The stars and stripes flutters alongside the runway where military and passenger planes touch down: Camp Lemmonier, America’s only permanent military base in Africa, hosts 4,500 troops and contractors who conduct missions against al-Qaeda in Yemen and al-Shabab in Somalia. The outpost, leased for $60m a year, shares an airstrip with the international airport, ... Djibouti also hosts France’s...

The United States launched a series of airstrikes on an al-Shabab training camp in Somalia Saturday, killing 150 militants and averting what a Pentagon official described as an “imminent threat” posed by the group to both U.S. and African Union troops stationed in the war-torn country.

A community advocate who spends his days helping Somali families and a youth soccer coach who works to keep kids off the street are among the people lining up for a crack at federal and private funds aimed at stopping terror recruiting. Friday was the deadline for applicants to request roughly $400,000 in money being administered by a nonprofit entity as part of Minnesota's efforts to stamp out violent extremism. The program is part of a three-city pilot project, which includes Boston and Los Angeles, launched more than a year ago by the Obama administration. Minneapolis' program, called Building Community...

A former Minneapolis high school student, now a terror suspect jailed in Somalia, admitted previous ties to the militant group Al-Shabab, but denied involvement with Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorists or the mass shootings that killed 14 people in San Bernardino, Calif., last week. Mohamed Abdullahi Hassan, known by his jihadi moniker on social media as "Mujahid Miski," spoke by telephone with a reporter from Voice of America's Somali Service on Tuesday, one day after U.S. State Department officials revealed that Hassan turned himself in to Somali authorities Nov. 6. He remains in the custody of...

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...

The U.S. State Department said in a statement Monday that a Minnesota man who joined al-Shabab in 2008 is in custody of the Somali government. Below is the statement KARE 11 received from spokesperson Pooja Jhunjhunwala: Mohamed Abdullahi Hassan, aka "Miski," surrendered to the Federal Government of Somalia on November 6, 2015. Miski, born in Somalia, is a lawful permanent resident of the United States and is in the custody of the Somali National Intelligence and Security Agency in Mogadishu. The U.S. Mission to Somalia is discussing this case with the Somali Federal Government. The United States does not have...

I found the photo of Al Shabab marching, presumably somewhere in Somalia, interesting.  It gives a clear look at some of their weaponry.  As an organization that deals in terror, I would expect it to be extremely conscious of the image that it puts forth.   This likely explains the preponderance of  PKM light machine guns in the hands of the four rightward ranks of the front marchers (their right). These are probably the most powerful weapons that are carried on foot by Al Shabab.  I only see those four, and it appears that other troops are equipped with AK...

The FBI made six arrests in Minneapolis and in San Diego Sunday as part of a Joint Terrorism Task Force operation, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Minnesota office. “There is no threat to public safety,” .. More information will be released Monday morning, .. Omar Jamal, a Somali activist in Minneapolis, said the community has been abuzz about arrests Sunday of several Somali young men both in Minneapolis and California that appear to be linked to the ongoing investigation related to ISIS and Al-Shabab. He said he’s heard the number of arrested could be between three and six people.

Seven people have been killed in an attack on a hotel popular with government officials in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, officials say. The African Union mission to Somalia, AMISOM, confirmed to Al Jazeera that there had been an explosion followed by gunfire at the Makka al-Mukarama hotel on Friday. An AMISOM spokesman said al-Shabab fighters got out of a car that then exploded. The armed men then entered the hotel and gunfire was heard. The fighters took hostages, the spokesman added.

Islamic extremist fighters – possibly from the Al Shabab terror group-- stormed a popular hotel in the Somali Capital Mogadishu Friday, trapping government officials inside the building, police said. Witnesses reported hearing a large explosion and gunfire at the Maka Al Mukaram Hotel, Reuters reported. Police say gunshots were heard inside the compound but it’s unclear whether there are casualties resulting from the attack. "Al Shabaab fighters are on the top of the building and inside the hotel," Police Major Ismail Olow told Reuters. "Some government officials are inside the hotel."

ecurity: A video by Somalia's al-Qaida-affiliated al-Shabab group warns Minnesota's Mall of America may be a repeat of a 2013 mall attack in Kenya. The Second Amendment may be our best defense against terrorism. The immense Mall of America in Bloomington would indeed make an inviting target for jihadists intent on martyrdom. Its 520 stores, the most of any mall in the world, attracts 40 million people annually and is a global tourist destination. It's as inviting a target and as much of an iconic symbol of Western capitalism and culture as was the World Trade Center on Sept. 11,...

Al-Shabab terrorist on propaganda video seeking to inspire lone-wolf attacks on malls, including the Mall of America in Minnesota. Homeland Security Chief Jeh Johnson warned that a Somalia-based terrorist group is encouraging “independent actors” to carry out attacks in Western countries, with the Mall of America in Minnesota among the specific targets, but he failed to mention that the U.S. continues to import hundreds of high-risk Islamic refugees from Somalia every month. The U.S. State Department’s refugee-resettlement program has placed more than 100,000 Somalis into U.S cities and towns since the early 1990s – all of them Muslims hand-selected...