Somali, Yemeni pirates charged in death of 4 Americans

Fourteen accused pirates, 13 from Somalia and one from Yemen, appeared in a federal courtroom in Norfolk, Virginia, this afternoon after being indicted for the hijacking of a yacht off the coast of Africa that led to the deaths of four Americans in February. (more…)

Somali-born teen plots car bombing in U.S.

U.S. prosecutors say an Oregon teenager of Somali descent has been arrested in an alleged terrorist plot to car-bomb a Christmas tree lighting event in the northwestern city of Portland, Oregon Friday night. (more…)

Somali Pirates capture ship and tanker

Somali pirates have seized a German freight ship off the coast of Kenya – the second commercial vessel to be captured in the region in as many days, officials have said.

The pirates took control of the German freight ship Beluga Fortune about 1,200 miles east of Mombasa, (more…)

EU ship rescues Iran pirate victims

THE EU Naval Force said one of its warships rescued 13 sailors on an Iranian dhow who had been left for dead after a pirate attack. (more…)

Al-Qaeda threat greater now than on Sept.11, says ex-CIA agent

The man once charged with overseeing the CIA’s hunt of Osama bin Laden said Sunday that the threat posed by al Qaeda is greater now than at the time of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks that bin Laden orchestrated.
“We’ve killed some of the al Qaeda leaders and every dead al Qaeda leader is a success. But all we have is a body count,” former CIA analyst Michael Scheuer said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union.
But Scheuer suggested that such individual successes could be misleading.
“We now have al Qaeda – the main al Qaeda – in the Pakistan and Afghanistan theater. We have a fully fledged wing in Yemen. We have a full fledged wing in Iraq, a fully fledged wing in north Africa and a nascent wing in Somalia. How can [al Qaeda] be less threatening to us?”
The threat posed by al Qaeda is “much greater than it was on 9/11,” Scheuer told CNN Senior Political Analyst Gloria Borger. CNN

Yemen will not tolerate foreign terrorists on its soil

Yemen’s government vowed it will not tolerate foreign terrorists on its soil, one day after a Somali insurgent group said it was sending fighters.
Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi told the official Saba news agency Saturday that Yemen is ready to oppose anyone threatening its security and stability.
His comments follow a promise Friday by Somalia’s al-Shabab to send fighters to aid al-Qaida militants currently battling Yemeni government forces. VOA

Somalia: Al-Shabab denied responsibility for suicide blast that killed over 22

Militant Islamist group al-Shabab has denied responsibility for a deadly suicide blast Thursday that killed at least 22 people, including 3 government ministers and a number of Somalia’s educated elite. The nation’s embattled president Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed addressed the country Thursday evening to condemn the attack, which the government blames on the Islamist rebels.
The spokesman for al-Shabab, Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, denied responsibility for the attack, suggesting it was the product of a feud within the government. Source: VOA

Suicide bombing in Somalia bore Al Qaeda’s hallmark

A suicide bombing at a Somali student graduation ceremony which killed three government ministers and at least 16 other civilians on Thursday bore Al Qaeda’s hallmark and further endangered the future of the country’s wobbling administration, analysts says.

A man strapped with explosives and disguised as a woman apparently gained free access to what was supposed to be one of the few parts of Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, that was safe for the country’s government.

But Thursday’s strike appears to be the latest in a fresh offensive by Al Shabab, deploying tactics that Somalia-watchers say have been imported directly from Al Qaeda.

“It was a very loud explosion, very big, and afterwards there was dust and smoke everywhere and people screaming,” says one Somali graduate reached by phone, who gave his name only as Mohamed. “Two of my classmates were killed …. Everybody is in a lot of shock.”

3 Somali Cabinet ministers killed in a bomb attack

Authorities say three Somali Cabinet ministers are among nine people killed in a bomb attack. They say the blast ripped through a graduation ceremony at a university in Mogadishu. Source: AP