Extremists Said to be Eyeing Somalia as New Base
By Lolita C. Baldor
Associated Press
Posted on Wed, Apr. 29, 2009
Excerpts: WASHINGTON - There is growing evidence that battle-hardened extremists are filtering out of safe havens along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and into East Africa, bringing sophisticated terror tactics that include suicide attacks.
The shift, according to U.S. military and counterterrorism officials, fuels concern that Somalia, in particular, could become the next Afghanistan - a sanctuary where al-Qaeda-linked groups could train and plan attacks against the West.
So far, officials say, the number of foreign fighters who have moved from southwest Asia and the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region to the Horn of Africa is small, perhaps two to three dozen.
But a similarly small cell of plotters was responsible for the devastating 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
* * *
Officials said that in recent years they have seen signs that terror techniques bearing al-Qaeda's signature are gaining ground in East Africa. The harbingers include coordinated suicide bombings in Somalia in October.
* * *
But on Oct. 29, 2008, suicide bombers killed more than 20 people in five attacks in Somalia, targeting a U.N. compound, the Ethiopian consulate, the presidential palace in Somaliland's capital, and two intelligence facilities in Puntland.
The incident also marked the first time that a U.S. citizen - a young Somalian man from Minneapolis - carried out a suicide bombing.
Sphere: Related Content
By Lolita C. Baldor
Associated Press
Posted on Wed, Apr. 29, 2009
Excerpts: WASHINGTON - There is growing evidence that battle-hardened extremists are filtering out of safe havens along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and into East Africa, bringing sophisticated terror tactics that include suicide attacks.
The shift, according to U.S. military and counterterrorism officials, fuels concern that Somalia, in particular, could become the next Afghanistan - a sanctuary where al-Qaeda-linked groups could train and plan attacks against the West.
So far, officials say, the number of foreign fighters who have moved from southwest Asia and the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region to the Horn of Africa is small, perhaps two to three dozen.
But a similarly small cell of plotters was responsible for the devastating 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
* * *
Officials said that in recent years they have seen signs that terror techniques bearing al-Qaeda's signature are gaining ground in East Africa. The harbingers include coordinated suicide bombings in Somalia in October.
* * *
But on Oct. 29, 2008, suicide bombers killed more than 20 people in five attacks in Somalia, targeting a U.N. compound, the Ethiopian consulate, the presidential palace in Somaliland's capital, and two intelligence facilities in Puntland.
The incident also marked the first time that a U.S. citizen - a young Somalian man from Minneapolis - carried out a suicide bombing.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment