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Country Reports on Terrorism 2008 - Somalia

Somalia's fragile transitional federal government, protracted state of violent instability, its long, unguarded coastline, porous borders, and proximity to the Arabian Peninsula, made the country an attractive location for international terrorists seeking a transit or launching point for operations in Somalia or elsewhere. On October 29, awareness of the technology, methodology, and magnitude of the Somali terrorism threat increased dramatically when unknown suicide terrorists detonated five near-simultaneous vehicle bombs against UN, Ethiopian diplomatic, and government offices in Bossaso and Hargeisa. Authorities suspected southern Somali extremists with ties to al Qa'ida (AQ) were responsible. There were other high profile terrorist attacks:

• On January 18, three international aid workers were killed by a roadside bomb in Kismayo.

• In February, two bombs killed 20 and injured over 100 in Bossaso.

• On March 10, a moderate Somali cleric and peace activist was murdered as he left a Mogadishu mosque.

• On March 12, a police chief was kidnapped and beheaded.

• On June 1, President Abdullahi Yusuf's convoy was ambushed by gunmen.

• On July 6, an assassin killed the Director of the United Nation Development Program in Mogadishu.

• On August 3, a roadside bomb killed 20 female street sweepers in Mogadishu.

• On November 9, Somali militants crossed the Kenyan border to kidnap two Italian nuns.

Despite on-going peace negotiations between the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and moderate opposition, the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia, the terrorist group al-Shabaab (The Youth) militarily captured much of southern Somalia in the second half of the year. By year's end, the TFG was confined to parts of Mogadishu. Al-Shabaab, whose leaders are affiliated with AQ, consists of a disparate grouping of armed extremist militia, many of whom do not adhere to the jihadist ideology that is shared among the leaders of the group. Several senior leaders are believed to have trained and fought with AQ in Afghanistan. Al-Shabaab and other extremists also conducted remote-controlled roadside bombings, kidnappings, and assassinations of government officials, journalists, humanitarian workers, and civil society leaders. Al-Shabaab threatened agencies and their staff and expelled U.S. humanitarian aid agency CARE from southern Somalia. The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), securing the air and sea ports and presidential compound, lost three soldiers to extremist attacks during the year. Among the foreign AQ operatives al-Shabaab is sheltering are individuals wanted for the 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania and a 2002 hotel bombing in Kenya, including Fazul Abdullah Mohammed (aka Harun Fazul), and Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan. The capability of the TFG and other Somali local and regional authorities to carry out counterterrorism activities was extremely limited.

Somalia-based piracy remains a significant threat in the Gulf of Aden and the Somali basin. The international community is responding with naval assets but the nature of the threat and the vastness of the area make stopping piracy nearly impossible without a shore-based strategy to address piracy. While there is no clear nexus with terrorism, such a link remains possible.

Topics: Terrorism, Counter-terrorism,