Trump Used in Jihadist Recruitment Video

thedailybeast.com, Trump Used in Jihadist Recruitment Vid, 1 Jan 2016 "Donald Trump’s rhetoric about Muslims and Syrian refugees is at the center of a new terrorist recruitment video put out by the Somalian jihadist group al Shabaab. Trump’s guest appearance is preceded by an old clip of U.S.-born al Qaeda cleric Anwar al Awlaki warning that the West will become the land of “religious discrimination and concentration camps.”"

al-Shabaab and technology

BBC News, How Somalia’s al-Shabab militants hone their image "A recent al-Shabab directive that all its members change their mobile phone numbers shows how tech-savvy the al-Qaeda-linked Somali Islamist group remains and how their communications strategy is key to their survival."

Al Shabab Bans Internet In Somalia

Reuters/huffingtonpost.com, Al Shabab Bans Internet In Somalia, 9 Jan 2014: "Somali rebel group al Shabaab has banned the use of the Internet in the Horn of Africa country, giving telecom operators 15 days to comply with the order, the militants said."

Twitter pulls Shebab accounts as group boasts of Kenya attack

Twitter pulls Shebab accounts as group boasts of Kenya attack | AFP/The Raw Story "Twitter has now suspended the account, but others quickly sprung up in what one analyst likened to an online version of Whac-A-Mole."

'Meet the Somalis'

opensocietyfoundations.org, Meet the Somalis: The illustrated stories of Somalis in seven cities in Europe 

I have yet to read this, but it looks like an innovative way to present a narrative (with shades of Joe Sacco)

 

al-Shabaab Smartphone ban

sabahionline.com, Al-Shabaab says smartphones used 'to spy on Muslim people', 14 Nov 2013 " ... Mumin Gabow, a 60-year-old traditional elder from El Bur, said he was angry about al-Shabaab's anti-smartphone campaign.

""First, I am an old man and I do not use these phones that al-Shabaab is allegedly banning people from using, claiming the phones are used for spying," Gabow told Sabahi. "But I am very sad about it because it is good for a human being to use any kind of phone he desires. The most important reason to carry a phone is to speak on it, and in my opinion, I think al-Shabaab is using any kind of lie to destroy the progress people have made.""

Bergen on Twitter

Peter Bergen, CNN, Are mass murderers using Twitter as a tool? "The next logical step will be for terrorists to cover their deadly operations using their own real-time live video feeds linked to sites such as Twitter, Facebook or YouTube."

Samantha Lewthwaite

NBC News, Interpol issues 'Red Notice' for Britain's terror widow on behalf of Kenyan authorities "While the Interpol notice does not specifically cite the mall attacks, Lewthwaite was mentioned on al Shabaab’s Twitter feed before the post was taken down late Sunday.

 “@HSM-PRESSOFFICE2: Sherafiyah lewthwaite aka Samantha is a very vrave (sic) lady,” it read. “were happier to have her in our ranks #westgate #AlShabaab COWARDS!”"

Battle To Save US Youth From 'Jihadi Pipeline'

Greg Milam, Sky News, Battle To Save US Youth From 'Jihadi Pipeline', 26 Sep 2013 "Authorities in the American city regarded as the 'jihadi pipeline' for terror group al Shabaab say they are winning the battle to prevent young men being recruited." Includes reference to internet influence.

Al-Shabaab and Social Media

There's been a great deal of conjecture about al-Shabaab's use of social media during the phases of the Westgate siege in Nairobi, as events have played out. Some of that is reflected below, in opinions and analysis. This is a logical progression from use of diverse web tools by 'jihad' oriented groups over the years, many of whom integrate social media into their activities (representatives of al-Shabaab having been particularly proactive in this sphere, as evidenced in other posts in this blog - click the label below to see more). 

I shall be writing about this issue again in due course, for a forthcoming project (I've been gathering material in the interim). There's some reference to al-Qaeda (+ affiliates) and social media in my chapter for Jeffrey Kenney and Ebrahim Moosa's edited book "Islam in the Modern World" (Routledge, 2013) - as well as my earlier work. 

Here's a few links which discuss this particular aspect of events (content does not necessarily reflect my personal opinions).  

Mail & Guardian, Tweets stream in over Kenya's Westgate mall shooting

BBC News, Authorities and militants take Nairobi battle to Twitter

BBC World Service, Is There a Link Between Terror Attacks in Kenya and Pakistan?, 24 Sep 2013 includes podcast available for download (for 7 days after broadcast)  (which also includes a contribution by Lisa Curtis of the 'Heritage Foundation', who wrote a blog post entitled Pakistan and Kenya Terrorist Attacks: Is There a Link?).  

techpresident.com, The Western Voices of al-Shabaab's Twitter Account "The al-Shabaab, known for their pernicious recruitment of child soldiers, hand chopping and stoning of girls, opened their first Twitter account two years ago and has been shut down a number of times since. What is striking about their tweets is their native and even high-brow use of the English-language. Words and phrases like "minuscule in nature" and "sangfroid" do not seem to belong to the language of violent jihadists."

Update: MEMRI, List Of Nairobi Attackers, Including Westerners, Published On Social Media

'American Shabaab fighters urges Muslims to join the 'fronts' of jihad'

longwarjournal.org, American Shabaab fighters urges Muslims to join the 'fronts' of jihad, 27 Feb 2013 "A previously unidentified American who fights in the ranks of Shabaab, al Qaeda's affiliate in Somalia, appeared on a videotape and urged Muslims to join on of the numerous fronts of the global jihad."

Twitter account of al Shabaab Somali militant group is closed

IDG, Twitter account of al Shabaab Somali militant group is closed, 28 Jan 2013 "The Twitter account of Somali Islamic militant group al Shabaab has been closed following the group's use of the microblogging site to link to videos of Kenyan hostages, mock rivals and claim responsibility for several bombings in Kenya."

Mother of US-born militant confronts al-Shabaab threat

Mother of US-born militant confronts al-Shabaab threat: 'It's in God's hands' | World news | guardian.co.uk "Having already lost her son to extremist ideology, his family back in the town of Daphne, Alabama, may now face the prospect of never seeing him alive again."

Somalian al-Shabaab group in new attack threat to Britain - Telegraph

Somalian al-Shabaab group in new attack threat to Britain - Telegraph, 23 Oct 2012  "A High Court ruling overturning attempts to stop the Egyptian-born imam being sent to the US was “a testament to the reality of the west’s vicious war against Islam and the Muslims”, al-Shabaab said.

"For this, the group said on its official Twitter feed, Britain faced another terror attack that would be deadlier than those on July 7 and July 21, 2005."

Al-Amriki

Al-Amriki pleads for intervention to resolve 'friction' within al-Shabaab - Sabahionline.com "In the video released on October 19th titled "An Urgent Message", Hammami said there is "friction" between al-Shabaab's local leaders and foreign fighters. In his three-minute long video message, Hammami called on "the leaders of jihad and virtuous scholars" to intervene and find a fundamental solution to "the bitter situation that currently engulfs the Somali [foreign fighters]"."

Somali issues

Much of this coverage contains an internet-related element

Nima Elbagir, CNN, Somali militants target addicts in UK’s ‘khat cafes’  

Guardian, Somali community in Britain begins to find its voice

"Britain's Somalis have talks with David Cameron about problems of jobs, poverty, stress and image ..."

Guardian, al-Shabaab: the Somali militant group recruiting young Britons to its ranks

"Intelligence agencies say young extremists are travelling to training camps in Somalia as they once did in Afghanistan"

VOA, Faltering al-Shabab Surrenders Strategic Somali City
 

"Al-Qaida linked rebels have surrendered Somalia's third largest city, Baidoa, without a fight, fleeing in the face of a joint offensive by pro-government forces and Ethiopian troops."

al-Shabaab case: update

Middle East Online, Court charges ex-US soldier with trying to join Somalia’s Shebab, 10 Jan 2012 "Ex-US soldier with specialist intelligence, cryptology training has been charged with trying to join Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab." More on this breaking case.

Al-Shabab's tweets [@HSMPress]

Jason Burke, Guardian, Al-Shabab's tweets won't boost its cause, 16 Dec 2011

"Somalia's al-Shabab militants are now using Twitter. You can follow the account @HSMPress – derived from the Shabab's full name, Harakat al-Shabab al-Mujahideen, or Movement of Freedom Fighter Youth – for pithy updates on their violent campaign to bring a rigorous version of conservative Islam to east Africa and beyond, all in 140 characters or less. The account already has more than 3,000 followers. Are the al-Shabab tweeters jealous of their Afghan Taliban counterparts whose own account @alemarahweb has 6,000 followers? Like all Twitter users they'd deny it, of course – and probably be lying."

Al-Shabab

Christopher Anzalone, opendemocracy.net, The rapid evolution of Al-Shabab’s media and insurgent “journalism”, 16 November 2011 "The evolution of Al-Shabab’s media arm provides a window into the group’s overall maturation as an insurgent movement that has endorsed key elements of Al-Qaeda Central’s ideology while still focusing primarily on waging a domestic insurgency inside Somalia."

al-Shabab on OBL

National Post, Somali terror leader vows revenge for bin Laden, 12 May 2011: "A former Toronto man who is now a commander of the Somali terrorist group Al-Shabab has called for revenge over the killing of Osama bin Laden in a videotape posted on the Internet."