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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsInteresting Guardian Piece on the Man Behind the Nairobi Mall Attack
Kenya attack is product of brutal power struggle within al-Shabaab - Westgate mall atrocity looks like statement of intent by hardliner Ahmed Abdi Godane after consolidating power over groupThis guy sounds like he wants to be the new OBL:
But Westgate also looks like a chilling statement of intent by Ahmed Abdi Godane, the al-Shabaab leader, who consolidated his power in June in an internal coup. Among four top commanders who were executed by Godane were two of the group's co-founders, known as al-Afghani and Burhan. Al-Shabaab's spiritual leader, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, fled for his life, and was subsequently detained by Somali government forces.
The infighting continues. Earlier this month, the Alabama-born al-Shabaab commander Omar Hammami, known as Abu Mansoor al-Amriki or "the American", and a British national known as Usama al-Britani, were shot dead in a dawn raid on their hideout by Godane's allies. Hammami, who was on Washington's most wanted list, had previously accused Godane of behaving like a dictator.
Godane, also known as Mukhtar Abu Zubayr, was behind al-Shabaab's decision in 2011 to affiliate to al-Qaida and adopt its global jihadist outlook. It is Godane who is said to have ordered the 2010 bombings in Kampala that killed 74 people in protest at Uganda's participation in Amisom. In 2011 he published a jihadist video entitled "At your service, Osama". In it he vowed that "the wars will not end until sharia [law] is implemented in all continents in the world". Even before Westgate, he was one of the world's most wanted terrorists, with a $7m bounty on his head.
The infighting continues. Earlier this month, the Alabama-born al-Shabaab commander Omar Hammami, known as Abu Mansoor al-Amriki or "the American", and a British national known as Usama al-Britani, were shot dead in a dawn raid on their hideout by Godane's allies. Hammami, who was on Washington's most wanted list, had previously accused Godane of behaving like a dictator.
Godane, also known as Mukhtar Abu Zubayr, was behind al-Shabaab's decision in 2011 to affiliate to al-Qaida and adopt its global jihadist outlook. It is Godane who is said to have ordered the 2010 bombings in Kampala that killed 74 people in protest at Uganda's participation in Amisom. In 2011 he published a jihadist video entitled "At your service, Osama". In it he vowed that "the wars will not end until sharia [law] is implemented in all continents in the world". Even before Westgate, he was one of the world's most wanted terrorists, with a $7m bounty on his head.
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Interesting Guardian Piece on the Man Behind the Nairobi Mall Attack (Original Post)
Benton D Struckcheon
Sep 2013
OP
louis-t
(23,304 posts)1. Jeez, you need a score card to keep up with these crazies.
They spend their whole lives figuring out new ways to kill for their religion and justifying it by saying God wants them to do it. What a useless waste of energy, time, and humanity.
treestar
(82,383 posts)2. Geez he even kills the people who cofounded his group
Can't get along with anyone.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)3. Guys from Alabama and Britain playing war games? The NRA must be proud of Omar living the dream.
As if they aren't training a truck load of warlords for us as well. What a great gig for these guys. I'm coming to see all of them as grifters on steroids.
Thanks, Benton for posting this and showing the true nature of this culture. And I don't see it as based in religion. That's just what they're hiding behind, like Koresh, Jeffs, Jones, Beck, Keyes and Robertson.