Increasing Islamic Terror in Somalia
In ASP’s recent “Are We Winning” interim report, Somalia was highlighted as a growing “hot spot” for Islamic terror, along with Russia, the Phillipines, and Pakistan.
Yesterday, CNN and other outlets reported that all Qaeda affiliated Islamic terrorist group Al-Shabab seized Jowhar, a city southeast of the Somali capital, Mogadishu.
From the article:
The town had been under the control of forces backing the transitional government, which is scrambling to cope with deadly advances from Al-Shabab in Mogadishu.
Al-Shabab was once the armed wing of the Islamic Courts Union, which took over most of southern Somalia in the second half of 2006. The United States says the group is affiliated with the al Qaeda terrorist network, and the U.S. backed an Ethiopian invasion that drove the ICU from power in 2006.
ASP Senior Fellow Dr. Bernard I. Finel noted in the interim report that:
Somalia continues its downward trajectory dating to the western-backed Ethiopian invasion of that country to remove the Islamist regime of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU). There was little evidence to suggest that the ICU was interested in promoting global terrorism, but the remnants of that movement have merged with preexisting, al-Qaeda affiliated groups, in the post-invasion environment.
Read the entire report here to learn about the greater implications of expanding Islamic terror “hot spots,” and other developments in the so-called “War on Terror.”
