A car bomb allegedly targeting a convoy of Puntland Maritime Police Forces (PMPF) exploded in a market in Bosaso, often dubbed Puntland’s economic hub. Puntland officials blame al-Shabaab for the attack as many observers await the group to claim responsibility… Read More ›
Tension appears to be growing between al-Shabaab and rival Salafi group al-I’tisam–both offshoots of Somalia’s defunct Salafi-Jihadi group al-Itihad al-Islami (AIAI). On 7 March 2013, a grenade was thrown at the al-Rawda mosque in Bosaso during an al-I’tisam lecture ironically entitled “Infringements on Islam… Read More ›
On 12 January 2013, French special forces attempted to rescue kidnapped French spy “Denis Allex” in the middle of the night from a hideout in the al-Shabaab-controlled town of Buulo Mareer (about 30 km south of Marka.) However, the operation… Read More ›
One issue that stuck out during President Mohamud’s largely successful first visit to the United States was the future of federalism in Somalia. After a warm reception in the Washington, D.C. area, Mohamud encountered significant protests in his subsequent visit to… Read More ›
This is the first in a multi-part series about Somalia in 2013. In 2012, the Somali National Army and its partners in AMISOM and Ethiopia retook major al-Shabaab strongholds–including the lucrative port of Kismayo–and essentially confined al-Shabaab to the southern… Read More ›
On 24 December 2012, hundreds of demonstrators filled the streets of northern Galkayo to protest the extension of Puntland President Abdirahman Farole’s term by one year and the recent arrest of elders gathering in Garowe on the charge of “attempting… Read More ›
On 5 December 2012, al-Shabaab (AS) forces in Puntland’s Galgala mountains carried out two attacks on Puntland Security Forces (PSF) in the area. Coming down from its mountain hideouts west of Galgala town, AS attacked a PSF outpost in Sugure, located… Read More ›
What began as a plan in July 2011 to push al-Shabaab from its bases in the capital Mogadishu turned quickly into a larger scale operation–with the help of Kenyan and Ethiopian forces and proxy militias–to force al-Shabaab out of all… Read More ›
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