Did five Torontonians join jihad in Somalia?

(IOL) Mohamed Sheikh Derow Aden, 17. Somali Suicide Bomberwho who killed 30 other people in western Somalia. The victims of the June 18 suicide attack – a method that the Shebab have used relatively rarely – included Somalia’s security minister, Omar Hashi Aden

RICHARD LAUTENS/TORONTO STAR

December 10, 2009

They hung out at a Somali restaurant in "Little Mogadishu" in the northwest corner of the city, played basketball together, and worshipped at a North York mosque.

The five friends, in their early to mid-20s, grew up and attended schools in Toronto.

They spoke English and Somali. At least two of them were university students.

That is, until all five disappeared.

No one recalls them ever causing trouble. But the Star has learned Canadian intelligence officials were watching at least one of the young men several months before he mysteriously left home.

Mahad Dhorre, Mustafa Mohamed, Mohamed Abscir and a fourth we know only as Ahmed vanished the first week of November. A fifth, Ahmed Elmi, left his home in Scarborough about three months ago. A sixth man, an Afghan, who worshipped at the same mosque, is also reportedly missing.

Their passports are missing and they haven't called home. The overwhelming fear is that – like at least 20 young Somali-American men in Minneapolis who have disappeared in the past two years, and others from Australia, Sweden and Britain – the young men are en route to Somalia to fight alongside al Shabaab, an Islamist youth militia aligned with Al Qaeda.

The Shabaab, which is fighting the government, is often called Somalia's Taliban. Its increasingly savvy online presence is being blamed as a possible reason for the disappearance of the five Canadians. And Somali community leaders fear other young people will be targeted as long as they feel alienated in this country, and embraced by another.

"These people can speak in their language and lure them from right under our nose," said Ahmed Hussen, the Ottawa-based president of the Canadian Somali Congress, adding people in the community have told him chat rooms were also used to lure the missing men. "We won't even know what's going on."

THE FIRST Somali-Canadian to leave the country was Ahmed Elmi. The 22-year-old vanished in early September. A month later, friends say, he called his parents and told them he was in Kismayo, a port city in southern Somalia where the Shabaab has ruled for more than a year.

Those who knew Elmi wonder how a boy who grew up in a quiet Scarborough community would flee to a city plagued by violence.

Elmi's soft-spoken father said the family is still in shock and trying to understand what happened. He declined to be interviewed.

RCMP and Canadian Security Intelligence Service officers are investigating the disappearances, canvassing areas in Little Mogadishu and questioning families.

But six months ago, CSIS agents paid a visit to the Scarborough condominium complex where another of the missing men, Mustafa Mohamed, lived with his family, says the building's property manager.

"They said there was some kind of suspicious Internet activity and the family was under surveillance," said Raees Akhtar.

On the second floor of the building, Mohamed's mother, Shukri, was too distraught to talk. "I'm not ready ...," she said from behind the closed door of her apartment.

A friend said the family hadn't heard from Mohamed. "(Shukri) is very upset," she said. "She doesn't know what to do ... She has other younger children, too, and she's worried about them."

During questioning, RCMP officers have shown photographs to the families and queried them about their sons' activities.

"(The families) are just as bewildered ... they are also looking for answers," said Abdurahman Hosh Jibril, president of the Somali Canadian National Council.

MAHAD DHORRE was only about 6 when he left Somalia. He and his adoptive mother spent about four years in a refugee camp before they arrived in Canada in the mid-1990s, friends say.

His father died in Somalia; his biological mother still lives there.

The gangly, bearded youth from Markham grew up playing basketball, watching baseball and dreamed of going to university.

"He liked going to the mosque but there was nothing radical about him," said Yusuf Arshame, a friend who has known Dhorre for years.

Dhorre was studying math and history at York University when he decided to take a break this summer. He started working at the bookstore at Abu Huraira Islamic Centre, the mosque in North York where the five hung out.

Arshame says Dhorre began socializing less and spending more time at the mosque. In October, Dhorre flew to Nairobi with his mother. Days later, he disappeared.

Abdul Warsame, a youth leader in the community, first met Dhorre at a conference this summer. "He was smart and funny," recalls Warsame. "One of the first things he said was `I know most of you think we (from the city's east end) are uptight. But we are not different.' That's the kind of a guy he was – always speaking his mind."

They quickly became friends. He last saw Dhorre during Ramadan, then weeks later he went missing.

OF THE 20 or so Somali-Americans who have gone missing, at least five have been killed in Somalia. One died in a suicide bombing in October 2008, part of coordinated attacks that killed 20 people.

Osman Ahmed's nephew, Bashir Hasan, vanished more than a year ago, resurfacing in southern Somalia. He died three months ago.

"He was 17 ... he was naive," said

Ahmed, a Minneapolis-based businessman. Three months before Hasan disappeared in November 2008, he was filling out university applications, planning his future as a lawyer. "And suddenly, he was gone," said Ahmed, who believes his nephew was enticed by the Shabaab over the Internet.

Days before he died, Hasan called his mother and told her he wanted to come home. "And then, we got a call saying he was dead," said Ahmed, who believes Shabaab executed him. "You only leave as a martyr ... there's no other way out."

His is one of the few Minneapolis families to speak publicly about their loss. "We've lost as a family, we didn't want to lose more as a community," said Ahmed.

But it hasn't stopped other young Somali-Americans from trying to join the Shabaab. About two weeks ago, four young men, two under the age of 16, were stopped while trying to fly to Kenya through Chicago.

Two days earlier, U.S. federal officials announced terrorism charges against eight men, seven of whom are still at large. It brought to 14 the total from Minneapolis who have been indicted or pleaded guilty for allegedly indoctrinating, recruiting or training local youths to join militia-waged war in Somalia.

Omar Jamal, a well-known advocate for the Somali diaspora in the U.S., said Toronto community leaders must ensure mosques play no role in radicalization. "We have to do everything to keep our kids safe. ... We can't let them go to a place we left years ago."

In Minneapolis, some families of missing men have accused certain mosques of radicalizing their sons.

In Toronto, the North York mosque where the five Toronto men worshipped has come under scrutiny since they disappeared.

The Abu Huraira mosque, located in a nondescript building in an industrial area near Sheppard Ave. and Highway 404, was the first to alert police that the men were missing. "The parents came to us and we immediately told (police)," said administrator Omar Kireh.

He stressed the men only "occasionally worshipped at the mosque over the years," adding the mosque has no hardline agenda. The mosque, with a congregation of about 1,000 mostly Somali-Canadians, holds classes for youth, he said, where they are encouraged to stay out of gangs and guns.

It became the subject of controversy a couple of months ago when Saed Rageah, the mosque's charismatic young imam, gave a controversial sermon interpreted by some as an attack on those calling for a ban on the niqab and burqa.

Rageah later said he had been misinterpreted. The Star could not reach him for comment.

Members of the congregation, however, describe Rageah as traditional, but not radical. And the Somali community believes the mosque had nothing to do with the disappearance of the men, although some suspect they may have been targeted there.

"It's not a coincidence that all worshipped here and disappeared at almost the same time," said Ahmed Yusuf, a Somali-Canadian social worker. "The question is how, and can it be done again."

THAT BOTHERS many Somali-Canadians in Toronto.

There are stories of how mothers have hidden their grown-up sons' passports while other family members keep an eye on them. Some mothers are even trying to monitor their sons' Internet activities.

It sounds over-the-top but Jibril said, "It's an extraordinary situation." There's a fear there may be an exodus of more young men from Toronto as happened in Minneapolis, he said. Toronto is now home to almost 50,000 Somali-Canadians, he points out.

In Little Mogadishu, an area bounded by highrises along Dixon Rd. and between Kipling and Islington Aves., families run thriving restaurants and grocery stores. Yet Somalis remain one of the GTA's most disadvantaged, scoring near the bottom in household income, employment and education.

Mohamed Gilao, executive director of Dejinta Beesha, a settlement agency, said young people find it difficult to integrate; some drop out of school and fall prey to crime, drugs and gangs. And now, it seems, radicals, too.

But the five missing men were raised in middle-class families and none had a run-in with police, say community leaders.

Warsame, the youth leader, talks of the crisis of "belonging" that plagues all young people from war-torn countries, especially if they still have relatives there.

Most Somali-Canadians still have families in that country and faithfully keep track of events there. Many send money back, ensuring the bond never severs.

"I'm not making any excuses (for Mahad Dhorre) and others," said Warsame. "But these kids wonder about equality and justice when they see war, hunger and violence in their native country. Is that what drives them? I don't know."

Somali Al Qaeda Leader Killed in Afghanistan

Drone Kills a Leader of Al Qaeda

SIOBHAN GORMAN

The Wall Street Journal

WASHINGTON -- A U.S. drone strike this week killed a senior al Qaeda operator in a Pakistani tribal area near the Afghan border, U.S. and Pakistani officials said Friday.

U.S. officials said Saleh al-Somali, who was responsible for al Qaeda's operations outside of Afghanistan and Pakistan, was killed in the strike Tuesday. He was on the Central Intelligence Agency's list of the top 20 al Qaeda targets, according to an official familiar with the list.

On Friday, officials in Pakistan said intelligence officers on the ground had identified the dead militant as Abu Yahya al-Libi, a senior al Qaeda figure higher on the CIA's list of terrorist targets.

Mr. Somali was likely involved in planning attacks against the U.S. and Europe, and maintained links to Pakistan-based militants plotting attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan, a senior U.S. counterterrorism official said.

"He's a big fish when it comes to [al Qaeda's] efforts to strike in the West," said Vahid Brown, a research fellow at West Point's Combating Terrorism Center.

Mr. Somali moved up the al Qaeda ranks, initially working on the group's propaganda operations and working with Western recruits when they traveled to Pakistan's tribal areas, the official said.

"He took strategic guidance from [al Qaeda's] top leadership and translated it into operational blueprints for prospective terrorist attacks," the counterterrorism official said.

A native of Somalia, Mr. Somali maintained relationships with al Qaeda's East African affiliates, including the Somalian terrorist group al Shabaab, U.S. officials said.

The report of Mr. Somali's death couldn't be immediately confirmed by the Pakistanis.

The State Department has offered a $1 million award for information leading to the capture of Mr. Libi.

The pace of U.S. drone attacks has slowed in recent months as Pakistan mounted its own counterterrorism offensive.

Somalia blames al-Qaida, Somali group for bombing

The assassinated government ministers: Health (Dr. Qamar Adan Ali), Education (Ahmed Abdulahi Wayel) and Higher Education (Prof. Ibrahim Hasan Ado).  

Mourners lower the body of Minister of Health Qamar Adan Ali, background under a cloth covering the grave, as the body of Minister for Higher Education, Ibrahim Hasan Ado, lies right, awaiting burial in Mogadishu, Somalia, Friday Dec. 4, 2009. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh.
By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN
Friday, December 04, 2009

MOGADISHU, Somalia  (AP) – Somalia's security minister on Friday blamed al-Qaida-linked Islamic militants for a bomb attack that killed 22 people in Mogadishu.

Thursday's bombing ripped through auniversity graduation ceremony at an upscale hotel in the Somali capital, killingmedical students, doctors, journalists and three government ministers.

Somalia's most powerful Islamic militant group said Friday it was not responsible for the attack, but Security Minister Abdullahi Muhammad Ali blamed al-Qaida through their affiliation with al-Shabab.

"The investigation is still under way to uncover evidence of who might have been behind the attack, but we already know that this is the work of al-Qaida through their affiliated group al-Shabab, because of the nature of the attack and the tactics used," said Ali.

 Al-Shabab spokesman Sheik Ali Mohamud Rage denied the accusation.

"We had nothing to do with the attack and we are very sad about it," he said.

He blamed the government for carrying out the attack. Somalia's prime minister has strongly condemned the bombing, saying it was an outrage to kill those "whose only aim in life was to help those most in need in our stricken country."

Government officials on Friday buried three Cabinet ministers killed in the bombing.

President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed is calling the bombing an imported idea to prevent Somalia from achieving peace.

Al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for past suicide attacks in Somalia, and has never denied carrying out an attack. But militant groups tend to distance themselves from bombings that kill large numbers of civilians — attacks that could draw popular outrage.

The bombing of a graduation ceremony for medical students and other graduates in a country that needs as many doctors as it can get drew swift condemnation from around the world.

Islamic militants in Somalia have shown a rising ability to carry out sophisticated large-scale bombings against high-profile targets. The bombing also highlighted the inability of Somalia's weak government to protect even the small section of the capital it controls.

African troops protecting the weak Somali government wage near daily battles with Islamic militants who hold much of central and southern Somalia. The government holds only a few square blocks in Mogadishu, though that didn't prevent Thursday's suicide bomber from gaining entry into the ceremony.

Several hundred people had gathered in the Shamo Hotel to watch the 43 medical, engineering andcomputer science students from Benadir University receive their diplomas when the blast ripped through the festively decorated ballroom.

The bomber "disguised himself as a woman, complete with a veil and a female's shoes," said SomaliInformation Minister Dahir Mohamud Gelle, who confirmed that the ministers for education, higher education and health were killed in the blast.

Amateur video of the attack obtained by AP Television News showed the dead, including at least three journalists, lying in pools of blood amid the sound of wails and screams from the wounded.

Soldiers, their AK-47 rifles slung over their shoulders, picked through the wreckage with their hands as survivors climbed over the debris of the bombed-out room.

The wounder government Sports minister: Saleban Olad Roble.

The bomb exploded about a yard (meter) from journalists covering the event. Associated Press journalist Mohamed Olad Hassan said that people closer to the explosion shielded him from the blast.

In New York, the U.N. Security Council condemned the attack, saying: "This was a criminal attack on people dedicated to building a peaceful, stable and prosperous future for the people of Somalia."

A statement issued by the U.S., European Union, African Union and the Arab League also condemned the attack.

Somalia has been ravaged by violence since warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, then turned on each other. A moderate Islamist was elected president in January amid hopes he could unite the country's feuding factions, but the violence has continued.

Suicide bombings, unheard of in Somalia before 2007, have become increasingly frequent and the lawlessness has raised concerns that al-Qaida is trying to gain a foothold in the Horn of Africa. The anarchy also has allowed piracy to flourish off the country's coast.

Outrage on Swiss minaret vote, but how do Muslim states handle churches?

Swiss minaret vote leads to Muslim anger, but the Swiss aren't alone in restricting religious freedom. The Christian Science Monitor

Muslim reaction across the world to Sunday’s Swiss referendum banning the construction of further minarets for mosques in the tiny Alpine nation has been almost entirely negative.

Indonesia’s Maskuri Abdillah, leader of the largest Muslim organization in the world’s most populous Muslim nation said the vote reflected Swiss “hatred” of Islam and Muslims.

Egyptian Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, close to the regime of President Hosni Mubarak, said the ban was an attempt to “insult the feelings of the Muslim community in and outside Switzerland.”

Yet the referendums outcome pales in comparison to restrictions on non-Muslims who aim to practice their faith in Muslim lands. In fact, the vote only brought Swiss legal practice closer to that of many majority Muslim states that also place limits on the construction of houses of worship.

Here’s a review of practices in four large majority Muslim states:

1. Indonesia. In a state with large minority populations of Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, and animists, the US State department reported in 2009 that at least 9 churches – and 12 mosques associated with the Ahmadiyya Islamic sect (which mainstream Muslim groups consider heretical) – were forced shut by violence or intimidation from community groups, and that a number of churches and Hindu temples have struggled to receive official permits in recent years. The Indonesian government has on a number of occasions stepped in to prevent church construction, largely over fears that it would stoke sectarian violence. But religious practice, by and large, is freer in Indonesia than most other Muslim majority states.

2. Egypt. The country has a sizeable minority of Eastern Orthodox Christians, or Copts. By law, their churches must receive the permission of local Muslim communities before new construction is allowed. The State Department’s religious freedom report on Egypt in 2009 says in part: “Church and human rights leaders complain that many local officials intentionally delay the permit process. They charge that some local authorities refuse to process applications without ’supporting documents’ that are virtually impossible to obtain.”

3. Saudi Arabia, home of Mecca and Islam more generally, is one of the least religiously free nation’s on earth. In the Kingdom, the public practice of any faith but Islam is illegal. Christian’s and Jews receive 50 percent of the compensation that a Muslim would receive in personal injury court and the country has no churches at all, though it officially tolerates private worship in homes.

4. Pakistan. Freedom of religious worship is constitutionally guaranteed, but in practice the government sets limits and there has also been a rise in attacks by militant groups on both Christians and Shiites in the majority Sunni Muslim country in recent years. The State Department found that “societal discrimination against religious minorities was widespread, and societal violence against such groups occurred.” District level government “consistently refused to grant permission to construct non-Muslim places of worship, especially for Ahmadiyya and Baha’i communities” the State Department found, while also noting that missionaries are allowed to work inside the country. In 2009 “public pressure routinely prevented courts from protecting minority rights and forced judges to take strong action against any perceived offense to Sunni orthodoxy,” the report said.

Islamic Extremists Kill Somali Church Leader

By Jeremy Reynalds, Correspondent for ASSIST News Service

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A human rights group has learned that members of al-Shabab a Somali Islamic extremist group have killed yet another leader ofan underground church in the Somalia capital of Mogadishu.

Washington-based International Christian Concern ICC, reported that on Oct. 10, Pastor Ali Hussein Weheliye was returning home from a worship servicewhen two masked members of al-Shabab ambushed and shot him. He waslater taken to Darful Shifa Hospital where he died of bullet wounds on Oct. 20.

According to ICC, Ali converted from Islam to Christianity in 1999 while working in Somalia’s capital as a linguist. In 2002, he started pastoring an underground house church. He is survived by his wife and a daughter whoare now in hiding fearing for their lives.

ICC reported that Al-Shabab has previously declared Somalia as an Islamic state, vowing to eradicate Christians. Just this year, the group has killed a dozen Somali Christians. Several Christians have also left the country due tothe intense persecution. Despite the killings by al-Shabab, the Somali churchis growing rapidly.

ICC’s Regional Manager for Africa and South Asia, Jonathan Racho, said in a news release, “The underground church in Somalia is enduring untold suffering. Al-Shabab and other Islamic extremist groups are hunting downand killing Christians. By killing Christians, the Islamic extremists have repeatedly demonstrated utter disregard to human life and freedom of religion.”

ICC asked that readers pray the Lord would comfort and strengthen Ali’s wife and daughter. In addition, ICC requested prayer for courage and wisdomfor the underground churches in Somalia.

Islamic Extremists Execute Young Convert in Somalia

Christian accused of trying to convert Muslim teenager found shot on Mogadishu street.

By Simba Tian

NAIROBI, Kenya, November 23 (Compass Direct News) – Islamic extremists controlling part of the Somali capital of Mogadishu this month executed a young Christian they accused of trying to convert a 15-year-old Muslim to Christiani

Members of the Islamic extremist group al Shabaab had taken 23-year-old Mumin Abdikarim Yusuf into custody on Oct. 28 after the 15-year-old boy reported him to the militants, an area source told Compass. Yusuf's body was found on Nov. 14 on an empty residential street in Mogadishu, with sources saying the convert from Islam was shot to death, probably some hours before dawn.

"Our brother Yusuf has been murdered," the source told Compass. "His body was dumped in Yaqshid district of Mogadishu, and his body is said to be on an empty residential street."

Al Shabaab, said to have links with al Qaeda terrorists, controls parts of Mogadishu and much of southern parts of Somalia, as well as other areas of the nation.

Their accusations against Yusuf had led the extremist group to raid Yusuf's home in Holwadag district, Mogadishu, sources said. After searching his home, militia didn't find anything relating to Christianity but still took him into custody.

Before Yusuf was executed by two shots to the head, reports filtered in to the Compass source that he had been badly beaten and his fingers broken as the Islamists tried to extract incriminating evidence against him and information about other Christians. The source later learned that Yusuf's body showed signs of torture; all of his front teeth were gone, and some of his fingers were broken, he said.

"We don't know the time he was murdered, but his freshly killed body was dumped in Yaqshid district at around 4:30 in the morning of Nov. 14, and due to the will of the family we have buried the body at around 3 p.m. on Nov. 14," the source said.

The clandestine Christians could not safely identify themselves to Yusuf's Muslim family, but they were able to indirectly assist the parents in burying him with dignity, the source said.

It is not known whether under torture Yusuf revealed information about area members of the hidden church, but underground church leaders have been relocating local Christians who knew him, the source said.

"We still don't know if the Shabaab did find any new evidence from Yusuf," he said.

Yusuf's Muslim parents did not know that their son was a Christian, and they had insisted to the al Shabaab militants that he was still a Muslim, the source said. The extremists accused the family of not reporting that their son had converted to Christianity, and they ordered his mother and father to appear before an al Shabaab court.

Although the Compass source could not confirm whether the parents heeded the command, he said they most likely did as it is not uncommon for the militants to behead those who defy their orders.

"I cannot confirm if they appeared before the Islamist court, but that is highly possible," he said. "Who can dare defy them?"

The extremists have demonstrated they have no qualms about killing those they perceive to be sympathetic to any "foreign" religion, the source said. He added that the Islamic extremists did not execute Yusuf quickly only because they had no evidence against him except the testimony of the teenage boy.

"In Islam, to execute someone you need to have evidence of three witnesses, and they didn't have it," he said. "Al Shabaab is known to do whatever they like, and they don't even follow the rules of their religion they claim adherence to."

The discovery of Yusuf's body brought an end to a strenuous attempt by his family to secure his release, but they are now living in fear since al Shabaab has accused them of concealing their son's new faith.

The source said Yusuf's death was typical of the Islamic extremist group, which often pumps bullets into their victims before dumping their bodies in public places to serve as a warning to those who dare to resist its orders.

Since the ouster of dictator Siad Barre in 1991, Somalia has been without a strong central government and has been at the mercy of vicious clan-based militants. Some, such as al Shabaab, are seeking to establish a strict version of sharia (Islamic law) as they fight to oust the Transitional Federal Government of President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed that is backed by the Africa Union and Western nations.

Somai Church Leader Martyred in Mogadishu

Islamic Extremists Kill Somali Church Leader

By Jeremy Reynalds, Correspondent for ASSIST News Service

WASHINGTON, D.C.  - A human rights group has learned that members of al-Shabab a Somali Islamic extremist group have killed yet another leader ofan underground church in the Somalia capital of Mogadishu.

Washington-based International Christian Concern ICC, reported that on Oct. 10, Pastor Ali Hussein Weheliye was returning home from a worship servicewhen two masked members of al-Shabab ambushed and shot him. He waslater taken to Darful Shifa Hospital where he died of bullet wounds on Oct. 20.

According to ICC, Ali converted from Islam to Christianity in 1999 while working in Somalia's capital as a linguist. In 2002, he started pastoring an underground house church. He is survived by his wife and a daughter whoare now in hiding fearing for their lives.

ICC reported that Al-Shabab has previously declared Somalia as an Islamic state, vowing to eradicate Christians. Just this year, the group has killed a dozen Somali Christians. Several Christians have also left the country due tothe intense persecution. Despite the killings by al-Shabab, the Somali churchis growing rapidly.

ICC's Regional Manager for Africa and South Asia, Jonathan Racho, said in a news release, "The underground church in Somalia is enduring untold suffering. Al-Shabab and other Islamic extremist groups are hunting downand killing Christians. By killing Christians, the Islamic extremists have repeatedly demonstrated utter disregard to human life and freedom of religion."

ICC asked that readers pray the Lord would comfort and strengthen Ali's wife and daughter. In addition, ICC requested prayer for courage and wisdomfor the underground churches in Somalia.

MADAXII KRISHTAANIMADA SOMAALIYA OO LAGU DILAY MAGAALADA MARKA

Warbaahin ay leeyihiin Wadaadada Diinta Kirishtanka ayaa markii ugu horaysay shaaca ka qaaday in gudaha Somalia lagu laayay Dad Somali Kirishtaan ah oo in Mudda ah qarsanayay Gaalnimadooda kuwaas oo si qarsoodi ah u faafi jiray diinta Kirishtanka.

 

Warbixin Dheer oo lagu daabacay Bog ay leyihiin Tabshiiriyiin Masiixiyiin ah ayaa lagu daabacay dhibaato xoogan oo ay Shabaab u gaysatay Wakiiladii faafinta Diinta Kirishtanka ee Kooxahaasi ay Somalia ku lahaayeen .

 

Arrintan ayaa ka dhacday Gobalada Bay, Bakool, Jubbooyinka, Shabeelaha Hoose, Shabeelaha Dhexe oo dhamaantood lagu laayay Dad Diinta kabaxay oo Somalida kale ku hayay Gaalaysiin qarsoodi ah waxaana dhamaantood dishay koox loogu yeeray Xagjir oo Shabaab la dhaho.

 

Socdaal Iimaani ah oo muddo dheer uu ku jiray nin Soomaali ah oo Qarsanayay Diinta Kiristanka ayaa ku soo gaba gaboobay murugo kadib markii ay koox Islaami xag jir ah oo Maamula Koontarool Toogteen ka dib markii ay ka heleen Kitaabka Muqadas-ka ah ( Baybal).

 

Kooxda Islaamka Xag jirka ah ee Al-Shabaab ayaa dilay 69 jir lagu magacaabo Cumar Khalafe Talaadadii la soo dhaafay oo ay Taariikhdu ku beegnayd 15 September koontarool duleedka ka ah Magaalada Marka sida ay noo xaqiijiyeen ilo Kiristaan ah.

 

Cumart Khalafe ayaa ka soo amba baxay Magaalada Muqdisho asaga oo soo raacay gaari Bus ah 7:30 A.M asaga oo wada 25 Baybal oo Af-Soomaali ku turjuman kuwaas oo uu u waday Dad kirishtan Qarsoodi ah oo Soomaali ah.

 

10:30 A.M ayuu soo gaaray Barta Koontarool ee ay gacanta ku hayaan Al-Shabaab oo ah koox Mucaarad ah kuna xiran Al-Qacida taas oo gacanta ku haysa inta badan Dalka ay Dagaaladu Aafeeyeen.

 

Nin ku sugan Soomaaliya oo diiday in Magaciisa la shaaciyo ayaa u sheegay Shabakadda Jiheeyaha Toosan ee Kiristanka "Rakaabkii gaariga waxaa lagu amray in ay soo degtaan si loo baaro waxayna Islaamiyiinta Xagjirka ah ka heleen 25 Bible oo Soomaali ku Qoran mid ka mid ah Boorsooyinkii Rakaabka, markii ay Waydiiyeen cidda iska leh Bibladdaa dhamaan Rakaabkii way Aamuseen. Baaritaan ka dib Xag jirku waxay heleen dhowr Sawir oo Boorsada ku jirta waxayna Bilaabeen in ay isku fiirinayaan Sawirrada iyo Wajiyada Rakaabka oo ay cabsi dabooshay maadaama ay ogyihiin meesha uu ku danbayn doono Qofka lagu helo arrintan".

 

"Islaamiyiinta Xag jirka ah ayaa arkay in Sawirrada mid ka mid ah ay Shabahdo Odayga Da'da ah ee Cumar Khalafe waxayna Su'aaleen haddii uu leeyahay Bayballada wuuna aamusay dabadeedna way Toogteen".

 

Khalafe wuxuu kirishtan ahaa muddo 45 sano ah ayuu yiri ninka u waramay Shabakadda.

 

"Maydka waxaa loo qaaday Marka kooxda Alshabaabna 25-tii Baybal waxay dusha ka saareen Khalafe Maydkiisa ayaga oo digniin uga dhigaya ciddii danbe oo lagu helo fal noocan ah" ayuu yiri ninka u waramayay Wargeys-ka.

 

ilo Kiristan ah ayaa sheegay in 04:00 PM ay Radio Shabelle ka maqleen Alshabaab oo leh " Maanta waxaan qabanay Cumar, oo ah soomaali Kiristan noqday asaga oo wata 25 Baybal waxaana lagu qabtay Koontaroolka Marka wuxuu ka shaqaynayay in uu Soomaalida Diinta ka saaro oo Kirishtaan ka dhigo, maanta ayaa la toogtay 12:30 P.M".

 

Qoyska Khalafe oo Muqdisho ku sugan ayaa ogaaday geeridiisa ka dib markii ay ka dhagaysteen Raadiyaha waxayna la xiriireen Baadariga Kaniisadda Qarsoodiga ah ee Soomaaliya waxayna u sheegeen in uu Geeriyooday".

 

"Warka Geerida Cumar shoog ayuu igu riday" ayuu yiri Baadariga Hogaanka u haya Kaniisadda Qarsoodiga ah ee Soomaaliya Xilli uu khadka Taleefonka ugu waramayay Wargayska Jiheeyaha Toosan wuxuuna intaa raaciyay " Waxaa wakhti dheer u soo shaqaynaynay kirishtanka Soomaaliya, waa nasiib darro in aysan Baybaladu gaarin Dadkii loogu tala galay, waxaan hubaa haddii aysan heli lahayn Sawirka walaakeen wuu Noolaan lahaa".

 

Khalafe wuxuu ahaa Soomaalida Bantuu-ga wuxuuna u soo shaqeeyay wakaalado kala duwan oo kirishtan ah, xubnaha kaniisadda Qarsoodiga ah ee Soomaaliya waxay sheegeen in Cumar khalafe uu ahaa Matoorka ama Aaladda Kiristaan Faafinta wuxuuna gacan ka gaystay in badan oo ka soo wareegtay islaamka qaadatayna Kirishtanka.

 

Wuxuu ka tagay Haweeneey iyo 7 Caruur ah Qoyskiisu ma awoodaan in ay u baroor diiqaan cabsi ay ka qabaan in la beegsado mid ka mid ah wiilashiisa ayaa yiri " waa nasiib darro in aanan ka qayb gali Aaska Aabaheen. Ilaahay ayaa garanaya sida uu u Abaal Marinayo".

 

Fulinta Qasabka ah ee Shreecada Islaamka ayaa ka dhaqan galay dhul badan oo ay ka arrimiyaan Kooxda Hubaysan ee Al-shabAab kuwaas oo isku dayaya in ay xukunka ka ridaan Madaxweyne Sheekh Shariif Sheekh Axmed Dowladiisa Fadaraalka Kumeel Gaarka ah.

 

Bishii la soo dhaafay Kooxda Xag jirka ah ee Alshabaab ayaa cadayn u raadiyay in Nin Soomaali ah uu ka baxay Diinta Islaamka qaatayna Kirishtanka ka dibna way toogteen meel u dhow Xaduuda Soomaaliya iyo Kenya sida uu noo Xaqiijiyay Kirishtanka Qarsoodiga ah ee Dalka Dagaalku Aafeeyay " Xag jirku waxay dileen 41 jir lagu magacaabi jiray Axmed Mataan magaalada Buulo-Xaawo 18, Aug ee Sanadkan waxaana arrintaas Xaqiijiyay C/Qaadir Cabdi Ismaaciil Hogaamiyihii hore ee Kiristanka Qarsoodiga ah ee Soomaalia kuwaas oo uu mataan ka mid ahaa laga soo bilaabo 2001".

 

Mahadaay oo 100 KM Waqooyi uga beegan Muqdisho Islaamiyiinta Al-Shabaab waxay 7:00 A.M 20, July ee la soo dhaafay ku toogteen Nin kale oo ka baxay Islaamka kuna biiray Kiristanka kaas oo lagu magacaabi jiray Maxamed Sheekh C/raxmaan sida uu Wargeyskan u xajiiyay qof goob jooge ah waxayna Kirishtanka Qarsoodiga ah sheegen in Islaamiyiinta Mintidka ah ay u muuqdaan kuwo ugaarsanaya Dadka ka baxay Islaamka ee galay Kiristanka.

 

Maxamed Sheekh C/raxmaan waxaa uu ahaa hogaamiyaha Unug ka tirsan Kirishtanka Is qarinaya ee Soomaaliya wuxuuna ka tagay 2 Caruur ah oo 15 jir iyo 10 jir kala ah Xaaskiisiina waxay u geeriyootay xanuun 3 sano ka hor.

 

Go'aan Sifayn ah oo dhan ka ah Kiristanka Soomaaliya ayay Kooxda Xag jirka ah ee Al-Shabaab ku guda jirtaa waxayna isha ku haysaa Dadka ka baxaya Islaamka gaar ahaan Goobaha ay ka shaqeeyaan Hay'adaha Kiristanka ah ee bixiya gar gaarka & Caafimaadka sida Jowhar, Jamaame, Kismaayo & Baladweyn sida uu Wargeyska u xaqiijiyay mid ka mid ah Kirishtanka, mahadaay Weyne oo 22 KM u jirta Jowhar ayaa waxaa horay ugu yaalay Cisbitaal ay hay'ad Kirishtan ahi Sameysay.

 

Xag jirka ayaa Qoorta ka jaray 7 kirishtan ah Bishii 10, July sida ay sheegtay Wakaaladda Wararka Reuters kuwaas oo lagu dilay Baydhabo ayaga oo lagu eedeeyay in ay yihiin Kiristaanimo & Basaasnimo.

 

Bishii Feb, 21-deedi Xagjirka Al-Shabaab waxay qudha ka jareen 2 wiil oo yar-yar oo Soomaali ah sababta Aabahood oo Kirishtan ah isla markaana diiday in uu sheego macluumaad ku saabsan Baadariga Kaniisadda Qarsoodiga ah sida uu Wargeyska u sheegay Musa Maxamed Yuusuf kaas oo hadda ku nool Xeryaha Qaxootiga Kenya , wuxuuna ahaa Baadariga Kaniisadda Qarsoodiga ah ee Tuulada Yoontooy oo 30KM u jirta Kismaayo.

 

Kooxda Al-Shabaab ayaa waxay soo galeen Tuulada Yoontooy Feb,20 ayaga oo raadinaya guriga Muusa Maxamed Yuusf, way qabteen waxayna waydiiyeen Xiriirka uu la leeyahay Salat Mbera oo ah Baadariga Koox 66 Qof ka kooban oo Soomaali Kirishtan ah kaas oo ay kula kulmeen Gurigiisa Magaalo aan la shaacin, wuxuuna Yuusuf ku adkaystay in uusan waxba ka ogayn Mberwa uusanna wax xiriir ah la lahayn, xilligaas oo ay iska daayeen Mintidku balse ay u sheegeen in ay u soo laabanayaan Maalinta xigta.

 

Muuse ayaa isla maalintiiba u baxsaday Magaalada Kismaayo asaga oo aan waxba la socodsiin Xaaskiisa waxayna kooxda Al-Shabaab ku soo noqdeen maalintii xigtay ayaga oo markii ay waayeen Muuse la tagay 3 wiil oo u dhalay C/raxmaan Muse 11 jir ah Xussen Muse 12 jir ah iyo C/laahi Muuse oo 7 jir ah waxayna dileen 2-dii waaweyn kan yarna way soo daayeen asaga oo ooyaya.

Somali Islamists whip women for wearing bras

By Abdi Sheikh

Friday, October 16, 200

 

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somalia's hardline Islamist group al Shabaab has publicly whipped women for wearing bras they say violate Islam by constituting a deception, north Mogadishu residents said Friday.

The insurgent group, which seeks to impose a strict form of sharia Islamic law throughout Somalia, amputated a foot and a hand each from two young men accused of robbery earlier this month. They have also banned movies, musical ringtones, dancing at wedding ceremonies and playing or watching soccer.

 

Residents said gunmen had been rounding up any woman seen with a firm bust and then had them publicly whipped by masked men. The women were then told to remove their bras and shake their breasts.

 

"Al shabaab forced us to wear their type of veil and now they order us to shake our breasts," a resident, Halima, told Reuters, adding that her daughters had been whipped Thursday.

 

"They first banned the former veil and introduced a hard fabric which stands stiffly on women's chests. They are now saying that breasts should be firm naturally, or just flat."

 

Officials of Al Shabaab, which Washington says is al Qaeda's proxy in the failed Horn of Africa state, declined to comment.

 

The group's hardline interpretation of Islamic law has shocked many Somalis, who are traditionally moderate Muslims. Some residents, however, give the insurgents credit for restoring order to the regions under their control.

 

Al Shabaab, which means "youth" in Arabic, control large swathes of south and central Somalia.

 

Abdullahi Hussein, a student in north Mogadishu, said his elder brother was thrown behind bars when he fought back a man who humiliated their sister by asking her to remove her bra.

 

"My brother was jailed after he wrestled with a man that had beaten my sister and forced her to remove her bra. He could not stand it," Hussein said.

 

Men were not spared the' moral cleansing'. Any man caught without a beard was been publicly whipped.

 

"I was beaten and my hair was cut off with a pair of scissors in the street," Hussein said.

 

"My trouser was also cut up to the knee. They accused me of shaving my beard but I am only 18. They have arrested dozens of men and women. You just find yourself being whipped by a masked man as soon as leave your house." (Editing by Helen Nyambura-Mwaura).

U.S. teen investigated in Somalia attack

U.S. teen investigated in Somalia attack

Source: Denver Post

Saturday 26, September 2009

NAIROBI, Kenya — FBI agents are investigating whether an American teenager detonated one of two stolen U.N. vehicles packed with explosives at a peacekeepers base in Somalia, killing 21 people last week.

Community blogger Abdirahman Warsame said FBI agents in Seattle had visited the home of Mohamed Mohamud on Tuesday to investigate whether his son, Omar, 18, was involved in a twin suicide bombing in Mogadishu on Sept. 17.

Somali Christian Martyred in Merca, Somalia

BREAKING NEWS: Somalia Christian Killed For Carrying Bibles

Sunday, September 20, 2009 (3:25 am)

By BosNewsLife Africa Service with additional reporting by BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos

MOGADISHU, SOMALIA (BosNewsLife)-- Islamic militants have shot and killed a long-time underground Christian in Somalia after finding Bibles in his possession, BosNewsLife learned Sunday, September 20.

Well-informed Christian news agency Compass Direct News said 69-year-old Omar Khalafe was killed by al-Shabab fighters Tuesday, September 15, at a check-point near the port city of Merca, 70 kilometers (45 miles) from the capital Mogadishu.

Shalafe carried 25 Somali Bibles he hoped to deliver to an underground congregation, Christians said. "By 10:30 a.m. he had arrived at the checkpoint controlled by al Shabab, a rebel group linked with al Qaeda that has taken over large parts of the war-torn country," said Compass Direct News, which has close contacts with Christians in the region.

The news agency cited a source as saying that "the passengers were ordered to disembark from the bus for inspection."

"The Islamic militants found 25 Somali Bibles in one of the passengers' bags; when they asked to whom the Bibles belonged, the passengers responded with a chilled silence. The militants found several photos in the bag and saw that the elderly Khalafe resembled a face in one of them," source was quoted as saying, speaking on condition of anonymity because of security concerns.

"They asked Khalafe if he was the owner of the Bibles; he kept quiet. They shot him to death," the source said.

ISLAMIC LAW

Al-Shabab, has campaigned to establish Sharia, or Islamic law, throughout Somalia and to topple the government. Shalafe's was the latest in a series of incidents against the Christian minority in the lawless nation, BosNewsLife established.

Last month, the group killed 41-year-old Ahmed Matan in the Bulahawa area, near the Somali border with Kenya, for converting from Islam to Christianity, several Christian sources told BosNewsLife earlier.

In July al-Shabab militants beheaded four Christian aid workers for refusing to renounce their faith in Christ.

Fatima Sultan, Ali Ma'ow, Sheik Mohammed Abdi and Maaddey Diil after kidnapping them on July 27 near in Merca, Christian advocacy groups said.

It has become increasingly difficult for international peacekeepers to prevent these attacks.

PEACEKEEPERS KILLED

On Thursday, September 17, at least 21 African Union troops, including the mission's deputy commander, were reportedly killed in suicide bombings at military headquarters at Mogadishu airport.

Al Shabab said it had carried out the attack "to avenge the death" of one of its leaders.

The rebel Islamic group has also threatened neighboring Djibouti that a similar fate awaits its troops should they be sent to Somalia.

The country has been without an effective central government since President Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991.

Years of fighting between rival warlords and an inability to deal with famine and disease in Somalia are believed to have led to the deaths of up to one million people.

After a U.S. Air Strike, Somali Peacekeepers Pay : Time Magazine

By Nick Wadhams / Nairobi

Friday, September 18, 2009

Time.com

One could argue that the U.S. was playing a dangerous game when it killed a suspected top al-Qaeda leader in a brazen daytime helicopter raid in Somalia earlier this week. While the Americans swoop in and carry out targeted strikes such as this, the African Union peacekeeping mission to the country (called the African Union Mission in Somalia, or AMISOM) remains stymied on the ground, undermanned and vulnerable, its troops bearing an unenviable and almost impossible task. In a country that has been in chaos for nearly 20 years, what peace can 5,000 Burundian and Ugandan soldiers possibly keep?

The Shabab, the hard-line Islamic militia that controls much of the capital, Mogadishu, and southern Somalia, promised swift revenge for the killing of Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, who was wanted in the 2002 bombing of an Israeli-run hotel in Mombasa, Kenya. That retaliation came Thursday, Sept. 17 — and the AMISOM force was the target. Suicide bombers in two stolen U.N. trucks packed with explosives drove into the AMISOM compound in Mogadishu and blew themselves up. Seventeen soldiers, including the Ugandan deputy force commander, were killed. Four civilians also died. (Read "Somalia's Crisis: Not Piracy, but Its People's Plight.")

"We have [gotten] our revenge for our brother Nabhan," Shabab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage said afterward, according to Reuters. "We knew the infidel government and A.U. troops planned to attack us after the holy month. This is a message to them."

A message indeed. The attack was the deadliest against the peacekeepers since their operation in Somalia began two years ago. It follows a similar attack on Feb. 22 in which a suicide bomber posing as a contractor blew himself up at the same AMISOM base in Mogadishu, killing 11. The Somali government says the insurgents have also stolen at least eight U.N. vehicles in recent months. Six remain missing. (See TIME's photo essay "Dramatic Pirate-Hostage Rescues.")

Coming so quickly on the heels of Nabhan's death, Thursday's bombing raises the question of whether American intervention in Somalia is undermining the Somali President's ability to woo the moderate Islamists whose support he'll need to restore peace in Somalia. The U.S. does not seem ready to abandon the country anytime soon. During her seven-nation tour of Africa in August, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Somali President Sheik Sharif Ahmed — a symbolically potent occasion, given that he had once opposed the U.S.-backed Ethiopian troops that invaded Somalia in 2006 to try to defeat the Islamists. The Americans will most likely continue to launch targeted strikes against suspected al-Qaeda militants and keep sending weapons to Ahmed's transitional government, as the U.S. State Department confirmed it did in June. (See TIME's photo essay "The Pirates of Somalia.")

"In retaliation, the insurgents will rain hellfire down on any representative of the international community [in Somalia], whether it is peacekeepers or humanitarian-aid organizations," says John Prendergast, a Horn of Africa expert and head of the Washington-based Enough! Project, which works to end genocide. "The U.S. got their high-value target, but the price to Somalia and to those trying to stabilize it will be very high. It is a cost-benefit analysis that defies easy assessment."

Meanwhile, the AMISOM peacekeepers will struggle on the ground, continuing to wait for the hardware and financial support they were promised. Soon after Thursday's attack, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the attack "in the strongest terms," and the U.N. Security Council did the same, reaffirming its support for AMISOM. But even if the peacekeepers sitting in Mogadishu ever get word of that support, they probably won't think too highly of it. According to its mission statement, AMISOM is supposed to be preparing the way for the introduction of a U.N. peacekeeping force into the country. At the moment, AMISOM is not in position to do any such thing.

The AMISOM force is supposed to have 8,000 troops, but other African nations that pledged to send soldiers have so far not done so. It is a telling sign that the links on the AMISOM website for "activities" and "peace process" both lead nowhere. AMISOM officials have adopted a fatalistic tone but insist they will remain in Somalia.

As ineffective as the AMISOM force is, however, Somalia's weak transitional government isn't doing much better. The President is holed up in a villa in the capital, and the army has so far been incapable of mounting a serious offensive against the Shabab. The best thing to be said about the government is that it still exists.

"A lot of [Somalis] are against the Shabab, but it doesn't seem the government is taking advantage of this by reaching out to clan elders and trying to drain the support from under their feet," Nurudin Dirie, a Somalia analyst and onetime candidate for President of the breakaway Somali region of Puntland, tells TIME.

"I'm expecting this government not to make things worse," he says. "I'm not under the illusion that this government, or the one after that, or even the one after that, will bring stability to Somalia."

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Wiilkii shanaad oo Somali-American ah oo lagu dilay Muqdisho

Sabti, September 05, 2009(HOL):   Website lagu magacaabo Star Tribune  oo si weyn wax uga qora magaalooyinka mataanaha ah ee Minneapols iyo St-Paul ee gobolka Minnesota ayaa shaaciyay in wiilkii shanaad oo Somali-American ah dabayaaqadii todobaadkii hore lagu dilay magaalada Muqdisho isagoo ka dhinac dagaallamayay Xoogagga Xarakada Shabaabul Mujaahidiin.   Wiilkan Muqdisho lagu dilay oo lagu magacaabi jiray Maxamuud Xasan oo 23 jirna ahaa ayaa wuxuu ka tirsanaa Ardayda Jaamacadda Minnesota, wuxuuna baranayay Injineernimo, wuxuuna Soomaaliya aaday bishii November ee sanadkii hore. "Runtii waa war xun geerida Maxamuud Xasan ee na soo gaartay"sidaas waxaa yiri Maxamuud Adeerkiis. Adeerka oo diiday in magaciisa la shaaciyo ayaa sheegay in uusan si rasmi ah u heynin goorta wiilkiisa la dilay hayeeshee ay maalmo dhow tahay. C/risaaq Biixi oo si weyn ugu ololeeya arrimaha Beesha Soomaaliyeed ee Minnesota oo booqday Maxamuud Xasan Ayeeyadiis ayaa sheegay in wiilka ay Ayeeyada u tahay ay geeridiisa ogaatay kaddib markii ay farriin ka heshay qoys ay qaraabo yihiin, kaasi oo uu iyana wiilkooda aaday Soomaaliya si uu uga soo dagaallamo. Wiilka la soo hadlay qoyskiisa ee soo sheegay geerida Maxamuud Xasan ayaa sheegay in uu taagan yahay meel Qabuuro ah oo lagu aasayo Maxamuud Xasan. Afhayeen u hadlay FBI-da Mareykankana wuxuu sheegay in uusan xaqiijin karin geerida Maxamuud Xasan. Jimcihii  shalay ahaa ayay qoyska, qaraabada Maxamuud Xasan waxay isugu tageen guriga Ayeeyada Maxamuud oo ku yaalla Cedar-Riverside si halkaas isugu tacsiyeeyaan. C/risaaq Biixi wuxuu sheegay in qaraabada qoysas dhowr ah oo wiilashooda ay Soomaaliya ku geeriyoodeen xagaagii la soo dhaafay ay tacisdaas ka qeybgaleen, waxaana ka mid ahaa walaashiis Seynab Biixi oo wiilkeedii Burhan Xasan oo 18 sano jir ahaa bishii June ee aynu ka soo gudubnay lagu dilay Soomaaliya. "Waxay igu reebeysaa maalmo murugo leh, haa,"sidaas waxaa tiri Seynab Biixi oo inta badan la kulanta qoysaska dhibanayaasha ah ee caruurtooda lagu dilay Soomaaliya. Maxamuud Xasan oo noqonaya wiilkii shanaad ee Somali-American ah oo lagu dilay Soomaaliya ayaa la rumeysan yahay in uu ka mid ahaa 20 dhalinyaro Soomaaliyeed ah oo ka tegay magaalooyinka mataanaha ah ee Minneapols iyo ST-Paul, kuwaasi oo Soomaaliya u aaday in ay la tababartaan, isla markaana ka dhinac dagaallamaan Xoogagga Al-Shabaab ee dagaalka kula jira Dowladda Soomaaliya iyo Ciidamada Amisom. Horay waxaa Soomaaliya loogu dilay Shirwac Axmed oo 26 sano jir ahaa, Burhan Xasan oo 18 sano jir ahaa, Jamal Bana oo 20 sano jir ahaa iyo Zakaria Maruf oo 30 sano jir ahaa, kuwaasi oo lagu qalqaaliyay in ay dalka Mareykanka ka tagaan kaddibna ay dib ugu noqdaan Soomaaliya kana dagaallamaan. Dhalinyaradan Soomaaliya lagu dilay ayaa dhamaantood waxay ahaayeen kuwo mustaqbalkooda ifayay, waxayna waxbarasho Jaamacadeed oo heer sare ah ku qaadanayeen Gobolka Minnesota. Hay'addaha Dembi-baarista Mareykanka ayaa waxay ilaa iyo haatan baadi-goobayaan ciddii qalqaalisay dhalinyaradan oo ugu dambeyntiina ka amba bixisay dalka Mareykanka. Ugu dambeyntiina, waxaa la sheegaa in dhalinyaradan laga dhaadhiciyay in ay Soomaaliya aadaan kaddib markii ay Ciidamada Itoobiyaanka soo galeen Soomaaliya dabayaaqadii sanadkii 2006, xiligaas oo Soomaaliya laga soo sheegayay in Ciidamada Itoobiyaanka ay gabood-fallo ka dhan ah bani'aadannimada ay kula kacaan dadka biri-ma-geydada ah ee Soomaaliyeed, isla markaana haweenka kufsanayaan, dadka rayidka ahna ay u dilayaan si aan kala sooc lahayn. Salaad Iidow Xasan (Xiis) Hiiraan Online sxiis@hiiraan.com Muqdisho, Soomaaliya

Somali American Islamist Killed in Somalia

5th Twin Cities man is killed in war-torn homeland   StarTribune.com Minneapolis - St Paul, Minnesota   Saturday, September 05, 2009   Mohamoud Hassan, 23, was an engineering student who went to Somalia last November. He had been helping care for his grandmother.   A fifth Somali man from Minneapolis apparently has been killed in his war-ravaged homeland, a relative said Friday.   Mohamoud Hassan, a 23-year-old former engineering student at the University of Minnesota, reportedly died in the past day or two. "It's real bad news," Hassan's uncle said Friday night. "But that is what happened."   The uncle, who did not want to be identified, said he didn't know when Hassan was killed, but added that "it's very recent. Today or last night." The circumstances of Hassan's death were not immediately known.   Abdirizak Bihi, a community activist who visited with Hassan's grandmother on Friday, said she learned of her grandson's fate after receiving a phone call from a relative of another young Somali-American who left his home in the Twin Cities last summer to return to Somalia to fight.   That man had told his relatives in a phone conversation shortly after noon Friday that he was standing in a cemetery in Mogadishu and had buried Hassan.   FBI spokesman E.K. Wilson said he could not confirm Hassan's death. By late Friday, however, friends and relatives of Hassan's family had gathered at his grandmother's apartment in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood to extend condolences.   Bihi said relatives of several other families who had lost sons this past summer in Somalia also were there to offer support, including his sister, Zienab Bihie, whose son, Burhan Hassan, 18, was killed in June.   "It reminds me of bad days, yeah," said Zienab Bihie, who often met with Hassan's grandmother and parents of other young men who abruptly left Minneapolis to return to Somalia. "It's very hard. They said 'He's gone.'" Hassan is believed to be one of as many as 20 young men from the Twin Cities who over the past 2 1/2 years returned to their native country to train with and fight for al-Shabaab, a group designated by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization linked to al-Qaida. Who recruited the men and who financed their travel has been at the heart of a far-reaching federal investigation that became public last November after Shirwa Ahmed, 26, a former college student from Minneapolis, blew himself up in Somalia in a coordinated attack that killed up to 30 people. Under federal law, it is illegal for a U.S. citizen to go to another country and fight in a conflict, or support terrorists.   Since Ahmed's death, Hassan and three other Somali men from Minneapolis who were friends or knew each other from a local mosque  Burhan Hassan, 18; Jamal Bana, 20, and Zakaria Maruf, 30 -- have been killed in Somalia. At the same time, three other Somali-American men have pleaded guilty to terror-related charges and await sentencing in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis for their role in returning to their homeland to train or fight.   As they wait, a federal grand jury in Minneapolis continues to hear testimony in the case, which is expected to lead to more charges or indictments in coming months.   Hassan, nicknamed "Snake," was a graduate of Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis and was attending the U at the time he left for Somalia last November.   While at the U, Hassan served as vice president of the Minnesota Somali Student Union, said a friend, who asked not to be identified. At the time of his departure, he was studying engineering and had lived off and on with an uncle while helping to care for his grandmother, who Bihi described as "very fragile.   "He was the No. 1 support for her," Bihi said. "He was the caregiver. He would help her with her medications and make sure she was socializing with the elders."   Hassan was part of a second wave of Somali-Americans from the Twin Cities to return to Somalia to fight in the country's civil war. Several of the men who have pleaded guilty to terror-related charges left months earlier, and have told investigators that they initially were motivated to return to fight Ethiopians who had invaded their homeland.   One of Hassan's friends said Friday that Hassan also was partly inspired to return because of the stories of rape and killings by Ethiopians. But just what transpired while Hassan was in Somalia or what his involvement was with al-Shabaab wasn't clear, the friend said. Richard Meryhew • 612-673-4425

SOMALI CHRISTIAN SHOT DEAD NEAR KENYA BORDER

Muslim extremists kill convert from Islam they were monitoring.

NAIROBI, Kenya, August 22 (Compass Direct News) – Muslim extremists seeking evidence that a Somali man had converted from Islam to Christianity shot him dead Tuesday morning (Aug. 18) near the Somali border with Kenya, according to underground Christians in the war-torn nation. Al Shabaab rebels killed 41-year-old Ahmed Matan in Bulahawa, Somalia, according to Abdikadir Abdi Ismael, a former leader of a secret Christian fellowship in Somalia to which Matan belonged. Matan had been a member of the underground church since 2001. 

The early morning shooting comes at a time when Islamist groups led by al Shabaab are hunting down converts to Christianity as they seek to establish sharia (Islamic law) throughout Somalia. Ismael, who fled the area in 2005, said he received a telephone call from Matan two weeks ago in which the convert told him that monitoring by the Islamic extremists kept him from leaving his home and carrying out his small-trade business across the border in Mandera, in eastern Kenya. "I am afraid for my life – the al Shabaab want to get a proof that I follow the Christian faith," Matan told Ismael. "They have not been seeing me in the mosque and seem to have realized that I am not part of them."

Muslims Murder More Christians in Somalia

Somali Islamic extremists beheaded four Christians recently after kidnapping them last month, according to eyewitness accounts reported to International Christian Concern (ICC).

 

Members of the Islamic extremist organization Al-Shabaab had kidnapped Fatima Sultan, Ali Ma'ow, Sheik Mohammed Abdi, and Maaddey Diil on July 27 from their coastal town of Merca, 56 miles from Mogadishu, and eventually beheaded the Christians after they refused to renounce their faith in Jesus Christ.

The four Christians had been working for a local NGO that helps orphans in southern Somalia.

 

"Al-Shabaab has once again demonstrated its utter disregard for the dignity of human life," commented Jonathan Racho, ICC's Regional Manager for Africa and the Middle East, after receiving news of the beheadings. "It is high time for the international community to take robust measures to end the heinous crimes that Al-Shabaab and other extremist groups are committing against the people of Somalia."

 

According to one eye witness account, all four of the "apostates" were given an opportunity to return to Islam and to be released "but they all declined the generous offer."

 

When they refused, all four were beheaded for apostasy and news of their deaths was passed along to their families on Aug. 4 by a junior Al-Shabaab militant who called himself "Seiful Islam" ("the Sword of Islam").

 

Then militant described the Christians as promoters of "fitna," a Muslim term for religious discord.

 

He also told the families that the bodies will not be given to them "as Somalia does not have cemeteries for infidels," according to a report received by the ICC.

 

A Somali church leader who monitors the persecution against the Somali Church described the latest beheadings as a desperate attempt to "purify" Somalia by eliminating all Christians from what the Al Qaeda linked terror group considers an Islamic Republic.

 

The church leader told ICC that such murders will only serve as a rich seedbed from where many more house-churches will form.

 

Though Islamists in Somalia have been known for carrying out ruthless attacks against the country's Christian minority, the majority of Muslims in Somalia are also the "victims of Al-Shabaab's cruelty," said ICC's Racho in his organization's report of the latest incident.

 

"[They] do not support their ideology or practices," he added.

According to ICC, Al-Shabaab is a radical Islamic organization fighting to establish an Islamic state in Somalia and enforce Wahhabi/Salafi Islam, an ultra-conservative interpretation of Islam practiced by the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

 

The Islamist group controls large parts of Somalia and seeks to overthrow the internationally recognized transitional federal government of Somalia.

 

Last year alone, members of the group killed more than a half dozen Somali Christians, and last month, Al-Shabaab beheaded seven people in the southwestern town of Baidoa after accusing them of converting to Christianity and spying for the transitional federal government of Somalia.

 

Al-Shabab has been designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the United States Department of State. It's also described as a terrorist organization by the Norwegian Police Security Service and the Swedish Security Service.

 

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Somali Islamists pull teeth from "sinners": residents

By  Abdi Sheikh Monday, August 10, 20   MOGADISHU (Reuters) -Somali Islamist group al Shabaab is forcibly removing gold and silver teeth from residents in southern Somalia because it says they contravene strict religious law, locals from a coastal town said on Monday.   Residents in Marka say al Shabaab has been rounding up anyone seen with a silver or gold tooth and taking them to a masked man who then rips them out using basic tools. "I never thought al Shabaab would see my denture as a sin. They took me to their station and removed my silver tooth," resident Bashir told Reuters.   "In the station, I met several men and women whose dentures were being pulled out by a masked man they called a doctor. The doctor used a pincer or his gloved hand depending on the strength of the tooth," Bashir said.   "As you smile your silver tooth accuses you. I was at a counter with my friend when three armed al Shabaab ordered me to follow them," he added. "I am afraid they want to make money from taking all this precious metal." Al Shabaab officials declined to comment.   The Islamist group says the gold and silver teeth are used for fashion and beauty, which is against strict interpretations of Islam, residents told Reuters.   Al Shabaab, which means "Youth" in Arabic, is an al Qaeda-inspired militant group that has taken control of large swathes of south and central Somalia.   The group's hardline interpretation of Islamic law has shocked many Somalis, who are traditionally more moderate Muslims. Some residents, however, give the insurgents credit for restoring order to the regions under their control.   In June, al Shabaab officials in one of the group's Mogadishu strongholds ordered four teenagers to each have a hand and a foot cut off as punishments for robbery.   (Writing by Jeremy Clarke; Editing by Alison Williams).