Somalis Fleeing to Yemen Prompt New Worries in Fight Against al-Qaeda

Officials worry refugees will be recruited to a unified, regional al-Qaeda

Somali refugees gather in the village of Basateen near the Yemeni port city of Aden on May 17, 2009. Basateen is often called “small Somalia” because of the number of Somali refugees who live there. (Photo credit: Khaled Fazaa / AFP – Getty Images file) 

By Sudarsan Raghavan

January 12, 2010

Excerpts

KHARAZ, YEMEN — Thousands of Somali boys and teenagers fleeing war and chaos at home are sailing to Yemen, where officials who have long welcomed Somali refugees now worry that the new arrivals could become the next generation of al-Qaeda fighters.

As the United States deepens its counterterrorism operations in Yemen, officials are concerned that extremists could find growing Somali refugee camps fertile ground for recruiting. U.S. and Yemeni authorities also fear that Islamist fighters from Somalia could slip into the country among the throngs of refugees, deepening ties between al-Qaeda leaders in Yemen and the particularly hard-line militants of Somalia.

Fleeing a failed state for a failing one, the Somali youths arrive daily in this refugee outpost, which is filled with rickety tents and tales of misery, in the vast desert of southern Yemen. They bring stories of brutality and forced conscription by al-Shabab, an Islamist force battling Somalia’s U.S.-backed transitional government. …

But this longtime haven is becoming increasingly inhospitable since the United States bolstered its operations here, largely in response to the Yemeni al-Qaeda connections of the Nigerian man who allegedly tried to bomb a U.S. airliner over Detroit on Christmas Day, and to the links of an extremist Yemeni American cleric to the Nov. 5 shootings at Fort Hood, Tex.

Yemen’s fragile government fears that Somali fighters from al-Shabab will swell the ranks of Yemen’s Islamist militants at a time when links between the Somali group and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula are growing, according to Yemeni officials and analysts.

As it quietly wages war against extremists in the Arabian Peninsula and parts of Africa, the Obama administration could find itself confronting a unified, regional al-Qaeda on two continents. This would further stretch U.S. resources as Washington fights major conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. …

“Somalia for Yemen is becoming like what Pakistan is for Afghanistan,” said Saeed Obaid, a Yemeni terrorism expert who wrote a book on al-Qaeda’s Yemen affiliate.

Leaders of al-Shabab, which the United States has labeled a terrorist organization with links to al-Qaeda’s central body, said last week that they will send fighters to help al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. …

In recent days, Yemeni security forces have staged raids on Somali refugee communities, detaining suspected loyalists of al-Shabab, which means “The Youth.” Overnight, an atmosphere of fear has gripped the community, which numbers more than 1 million. …

Salafist schools, which teach a puritanical brand of Islam, have attracted several hundred young Somali refugees with offers of free food and lodging, said Somali community leaders. They fear some could join al-Shabab. …

In an audiotape last year, Osama bin Laden exhorted al-Shabab to overthrow the Somali government. Radical Yemeni American cleric Anwar al-Aulaqi, whom the United States has linked to the suspect in the attempted Christmas Day bombing and to the gunman charged in the massacre at Fort Hood, has also expressed support for al-Shabab.

Yemeni officials and analysts say there is regular communication between al-Qaeda militants in Yemen and al-Shabab. Last week, Somalia’s state minister for defense declared that Yemeni militants had sent al-Shabab two boats filled with arms. They have also traveled to Somalia to fight. …

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Related report

Yemen: Suspected al-Qaida figure killed in raid (AP, Jan. 13, 2010) — Yemeni security forces have reportedly killed suspected al-Qaida figure Abdullah Mihzar and arrested four others in a raid on a house in the remote, mountainous Shabwa province. Elsewhere in the province, suspected al-Qaida fighters ambushed a Yemeni patrol before dawn, killing two members of the security forces and wounding four others. … Full report

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Related reports on this site

Somali Terror Suspects Indicted (Aug. 7, 2010)

Uncertain Ally Against al-Qaida (Jan. 9, 2010)

Battle Lines Are Drawn in Yemen (Jan. 2, 2010)

Obama Opens Third War Front (Dec. 28, 2009)

Yemen Link in Airline Terror Plot (Dec. 26, 2009)

Christmas Terrorism Alert (Dec. 25, 2009)

Obama Fires Missiles into Yemen (Dec. 19, 2009)

FBI Probing Somali Terror Link (March 12, 2009)

Minnesota Somalis Jihad-Bound? (Jan. 26, 2009)

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Bomb-Rigged Motorcycle Kills Iran Nuke Expert

Onlookers stand outside the building where a remote-controlled bomb explosion killed an Iranian nuclear scientist in Tehran on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2010. (Photo: AFP / Getty Images)

The Associated Press via MSNBC.com
Jan. 12, 2010

TEHRAN, Iran – A nuclear physics professor who publicly backed Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi in the disputed June presidential election was killed Tuesday when a bomb-rigged motorcycle blew up outside his home.

The blast, apparently set off by a remote trigger, left a puzzling mix of clues about why a 50-year-old researcher with no prominent political voice, no published work with military relevance and no declared links to Iran’s nuclear program would be targeted.

State media identified the victim as Masoud Ali Mohammadi, a professor at Tehran University, which has been at the center of recent protests by student opposition supporters. Before the election, pro-reform Web sites published Ali Mohammadi’s name among a list of 240 Tehran University teachers who supported Mousavi. …

The government blamed the rare assassination on an armed Iranian opposition group that it said operated under the direction of Israel and the U.S. Iran often accuses the two countries of meddling in its affairs – both when it comes to postelection unrest and its nuclear program. …

Ali Mohammadi had just left his house on his way to work when the remote-controlled explosion went off, state TV said. The blast shattered the windows of his home in northern Tehran’s Qeytariyeh neighborhood and left the pavement outside smeared with blood and strewn with debris. …

Video

Iran blames U.S. for scientists death (NBC Nightly News, Jan. 12, 2010) — NBC’s Andrea Mitchell reports on an international murder mystery. (01:57)

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Related report

Was Iranian nuclear physicist killed by his own government?
(Babak Dehghanpisheh, Newsweek “Declassified” blog, Jan. 12, 2010)

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — January 12, 2009

 
Taliban fighters say they welcome the U.S. military’s proposal to send as many as 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan by summer 2009 because it will give the Islamic guerrillas more chances to kill “infidels.” (Photo credit: Paul Watson / Los Angeles Times)

U.S. Caught in Israeli Crossfire

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that security forces used tear gas and batons to repel anti-Israel protesters who tried to attack a U.S. consulate in Pakistan as tens of thousands of people demonstrated worldwide against Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip. I also reported that seven years after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan routed the Taliban regime, hard-line Islamic fighters who had scattered under massive bombardment to their villages and rear bases in Pakistan once again govern large swaths of Afghanistan and are dug in across regions that surround the capital Kabul, saying they welcome the U.S. military’s proposal to send as many as 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan by summer 2009 because it will give them more chances to kill “infidels.”