Don’t tell al-Shabaab about the grand Pastafarian conspiracy to replace the entirety of Sharia Law with the eight “I’d Really Rather You Didn’ts.” On the other hand, Pastafarian heaven apparently includes a beer volcano and stripper factory. Given the prize the jihadists always have their eyes on, maybe there would be hope for interfaith dialogue […]
Somalia: Suicide bomber who killed over 100 in Mogadishu slammed education, saying students “never think about the harassed Muslims”
“Harassment?” Bad. Suicide truck bomb? A-OK, apparently. Boko Haram, with whom al-Shabaab is said to have a growing alliance, must be so proud. An update on this story. “Somali Bomber Who Killed 100 Slammed Education,” from the Associated Press, October 6: MOGADISHU, Somalia — The Somali suicide bomber who killed more than 100 people, including […]
Al-Shabaab jihadists push starving Somalis back into famine zone
One analyst posed the rhetorical question: “How, precisely, does allowing hundreds of thousands of captive fellow Muslims to starve advance any Islamic or Somali cause?” It is about control. A weakened population of citizens who must devote all of their energy to securing their next rations is in no position to fight back. By controlling […]
Somalia: Misunderstanders of Islam give winners of Qur’an recital contest prizes of guns and bombs
Why not roses and lilies? From our Beyond Parody Department: “Why not Islamist radio station in Somalia giving guns, bombs to children,” from the San Francisco Examiner, September 20 (thanks to all who sent this in): An Islamist militia-run radio station in Somalia said it is awarding guns and bombs to three children who won […]
Swedish security police raid mosque, possibly in connection with earlier counter-terror arrests
Curiously, terrorism charges against those who were arrested “were later changed to preparing murder [,] and the prosecutor said it related only to one individual.” It is not entirely clear from the wording of that sentence whether the defendants were believed to be targeting only one person, or if only one of the three is […]
Somali jihadists: “Parents have to make sure they teach their children the principles of Islamic jihad”
They also have begun a campaign to impose the Arabic language on the population, not only over English, but over the Somali language. That includes major changes in the school curriculum that will make those students who are actually able to study less knowledgeable and less competitive, with obvious economic repercussions. It also seeks to […]
Nigerian authorities say mastermind of U.N. bombing was Boko Haram member who just returned from Somalia, has links to al-Qaeda
More on this story. Once again, a “regional” jihad group supposedly driven by local grievances has apparently found common cause with groups geographically far removed from it. This is possible because they share the fundamental aim of imposing Sharia, the goal of jihad in all its forms. Think jihad globally, wage jihad locally. “Nigeria: Al-Qaida-Linked […]
U.S. general: Somali pirates continue collaboration with jihadists
As noted below, al-Shabaab is not alone in seeking to benefit from piracy. In particular, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has also taken an interest, as have Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. “Maritime Jihad,” by Ryan Mauro for Frontpage Magazine, August 24: In February, four Americans were held for ransom by Somali pirates and executed. The pirates […]
“Any Somali that is suspected of being a Christian, or a friend of a Christian, does not receive any food aid”
As we have noted before, al-Shabaab has seen in the Somali famine an opportunity to starve its enemies and erode the general population’s will to resist. Christians are all the more a target of the group’s macabre calculations in its attempt to control the flow of aid, in a famine whose existence it officially continues […]
Somali jihadist arrested in 2009 at Dutch center for asylum seekers appears in U.S. court for recruiting for al-Shabaab
Hey, kids! Why just seek asylum from your virtually uninhabitable homeland when you can be the reason it’s that way? Well, there’s also the famine, but the al-Shabaab jihadists’ official position remains that the famine doesn’t exist. It’s just a tad dry out. An update on this story. “Extradited terrorist suspect appears in US court,” […]