Al-Qaeda hits Uganda
The deaths in the drone strikes of many Al Qaeda leaders such as its No. 3 Sai’d al-Masri, also known as Mustafa Abu al-Yazid in May, and Saleh-al-Somali from Somalia on December 8, 2009, have not weakened the capability of Al Qaeda to plan and mount terrorist strikes. The successful ones have been in the Af-Pak area, Somalia and Uganda and the unsuccessful ones in the UK, the US and Norway.Along with Saudis, Egyptians and Yemenis, the Somalis have been among the important components of Al Qaeda. Osama bin Laden had earlier used them for the terrorist strikes outside the US Embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam in August 1998, and in Mombasa in October 2002. The Yemeni and Somali wings of Al Qaeda have exhibited a certain operational autonomy which enables them to mount terrorist strikes on their own. While Al Shabaab has extended its operations to Africa, the Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has been trying to extend its reach to South-East Asia.
Al Qaeda looks upon its continuing jihad against the so-called Crusaders — thereby meaning essentially the US, Israel and their supporters — as a global intifada. Afghanistan, Somalia and Algeria are seen as battlefronts, which will determine the ultimate outcome. Afghanistan is seen as the core of the battle, Somalia as its southern front and Algeria as the western front. -- B Raman
By B Raman
Sunday’s bombing of Kampala that claimed 74 lives was carried out by Al Shabaab, the Somali wing of Al Qaeda, as punishment for the Ugandan Government helping Somali authorities in their operations against Islamist terrorists. With this attack, jihad has now extended its reach in the African continent
Seventy-four people, 60 of them Ugandan nationals, were killed and 70 others injured on Sunday in two explosions suspected to have been carried out by Al Shabaab, the Somali wing of Al Qaeda, at a local rugby club and an Ethiopian restaurant in Kampala. The explosions took place near large numbers of football enthusiasts watching on TV the final match of World Cup 2010 in South Africa between Spain and the Netherlands.
Citing local officials, the BBC has stated that among the casualties were Ethiopian, Eritrean, Indian and Congolese nationals. It has not indicated how many Indian nationals were involved and whether there were fatalities among them.
In a statement issued from Mogadishu, a spokesman of Al Shabaab, who gave his name as Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, claimed that his organisation had carried out the two explosions. There were some doubts on whether or not these were timed or suicide explosions, but an Ugandan official said that the head of a person believed to be a Somali was found at the site of one of the blasts, thereby indicating that at least one, if not both the blasts, was carried out by a suicide bomber.
The Al Shabaab spokesman has been quoted by news agencies as saying as follows: “Al Shabaab was behind the two bomb blasts in Uganda. We thank the mujahideen that carried out the attack. We are sending a message to Uganda and Burundi, if they do not take out their Amisom (African Union Mission in Somalia) troops from Somalia, blasts will continue and it will also happen in Bujumbura, the Burundi capital.” These were thus reprisal attacks against Uganda for participating in the African contingent helping the Somali authorities in their operations against Al Shabaab and other jihadi elements in Somalia.
The Amir of Al Shabaab, Mohamed Abdi Godane, had warned in an audio message earlier this month that Uganda and Burundi would be targeted. The main wing of Al Qaeda based in North Waziristan in Pakistan, the Yemen-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and Al Shabaab based in Somalia have continued to maintain a capability for planning and carrying out reprisal acts of terrorism in different parts of the world despite US claims of having eliminated many senior leaders of Al Qaeda through its drone strikes in North and South Waziristan.
The deaths in the drone strikes of many Al Qaeda leaders such as its No. 3 Sai’d al-Masri, also known as Mustafa Abu al-Yazid in May, and Saleh-al-Somali from Somalia on December 8, 2009, have not weakened the capability of Al Qaeda to plan and mount terrorist strikes. The successful ones have been in the Af-Pak area, Somalia and Uganda and the unsuccessful ones in the UK, the US and Norway.
Along with Saudis, Egyptians and Yemenis, the Somalis have been among the important components of Al Qaeda. Osama bin Laden had earlier used them for the terrorist strikes outside the US Embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam in August 1998, and in Mombasa in October 2002. The Yemeni and Somali wings of Al Qaeda have exhibited a certain operational autonomy which enables them to mount terrorist strikes on their own. While Al Shabaab has extended its operations to Africa, the Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has been trying to extend its reach to South-East Asia.
Al Qaeda looks upon its continuing jihad against the so-called Crusaders — thereby meaning essentially the US, Israel and their supporters — as a global intifada. Afghanistan, Somalia and Algeria are seen as battlefronts, which will determine the ultimate outcome. Afghanistan is seen as the core of the battle, Somalia as its southern front and Algeria as the western front.
In September 2009, Al Shabaab, meaning “the lads”, an organisation of Somali youths, was reported to have disseminated through Islamic websites usually identified with Al Qaeda a 48-minute video documentary in which it proclaimed its allegiance to Osama bin Laden. It derives its name from the fact that it used to be the youth wing of a fundamentalist organisation called the Union of Islamic Courts, which had established control over some parts of Somalia and was ultimately crushed by invading Ethiopian troops in 2006. While the UIC disappeared after being defeated by the better trained and better armed Ethiopian troops allegedly inspired and aided by the US, the Al Shabaab replaced the UIC as a born-again jihadi organisation, which was determined to continue the jihad against the troops of the African Union, which had replaced the Ethiopian troops, and of the UN-backed local Government, which it viewed as apostate.
-- The writer, a former senior officer of R &AW, is a strategic affairs commentator.
Source: The Pioneer, New Delhi
10:37 PM
Sultan Shahin
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