al-Shabaab

Extracted Attributes

• Ideology

  Sunni Islamism, Takfirism, Jihadism

• Full Name

  Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen

• State Name

  Islamic Emirate of Somalia

• Common Name

  Al-Shabaab

• Combat Strength

  7,000 to 18,000 fighters (2022 estimate)

• Base of Operations

  Southern and Southwestern Somalia

• Terrorist Designations

  United States, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates

Timeline

• Al-Shabaab emerged as a youth militia within the military wing of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU). (Source: Wikipedia)

  2005-01-01

• The group gained prominence as a resistance force during the Ethiopian invasion and occupation of Somalia. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2006-12-01

• The United States government designated Al-Shabaab as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. (Source: DNI.gov)

  2008-02-26

• African Union forces and the Somali government reclaimed the capital city, Mogadishu, from Al-Shabaab control. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2011-08-01

• Al-Shabaab leadership formally pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2012-02-01

• Al-Shabaab militants carried out a high-profile attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya. (Source: DNI.gov)

  2013-09-21

• The group's emir, Ahmed Abdi Godane, was killed in a U.S. airstrike during Operation Indian Ocean. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2014-09-01

• A massive truck bombing in Mogadishu, attributed to Al-Shabaab, killed over 500 people. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2017-10-14

• Combat strength was estimated to have increased to between 7,000 and 18,000 fighters. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2022-01-01

• Al-Shabaab launched a major military incursion into Ethiopia. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2022-07-01

Al-Shabaab (militant group)

Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen, simply known as Al-Shabaab, is a Sunni Islamist political and paramilitary organisation based in Somalia. It is involved in the ongoing Somali Civil War and controls territory in south and southwestern Somalia, which is referred to as the Islamic Emirate of Somalia. The group has regularly invoked takfir to rationalize its terrorist attacks on Somali civilians and civil servants. It is allied to the pan-Islamist militant organization al-Qaeda, it is also in a more limited capacity active elsewhere in East Africa, and has forged ties with other insurgent groups like AQIM and AQAP. Formed in the mid-2000s as a youth militia within the wider military wing of the Islamic Courts Union, Al-Shabaab came to prominence during the 2006–2009 Ethiopian invasion and occupation of Somalia, during which it presented itself as a vehicle for the waging of armed resistance against the occupying Ethiopian army. In subsequent years, it gained popular support from Somalis and became a dominant force in south and central Somalia, defending large swathes of territory by fighting against the African Union Mission to Somalia and the Federal Government of Somalia, as well as the latter's transitional predecessor. Al-Shabaab gained international prominence due to its recruitment of foreign fighters, including fighters who are from Western countries. Countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates have designated it as a terrorist organization, and the United States has militarily intervened in order to fight against the group. Between 2011 and 2013, a coalition of African Union forces, led by the Somali government, wrested a significant amount of territory from Al-Shabaab, including the capital city, Mogadishu. During the same period, the group was plagued by internal conflicts over its leadership and ideological direction, which intensified when, in February 2012, Al-Shabaab's leadership pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda. It suffered further military losses in 2014, as a result of Operation Indian Ocean, and the killing of its emir, Ahmed Abdi Godane. Several years thereafter, Al-Shabaab retreated from the major cities, but it remained influential in many rural areas, and it prioritized guerrilla attacks over territorial acquisitions. It is responsible for many high-fatality attacks, including the 2013 Westgate attack, October 2017 Mogadishu bombings and the 2022 Somali Ministry of Education bombings. Apart from its activities in Somalia, the group also operates in East African neighboring countries, extending its insurgency to Kenya's border regions with its Jaysh Ayman wing, and carrying out a major incursion into Ethiopia in 2022. Attendant to its recent resurgence, it was estimated to have increased its combat strength to between 7,000 and 18,000 fighters during 2022.

Web Search Results

• Al-Shabaab (militant group) - Wikipedia

  Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujāhideen, simply known as Al-Shabaab, or by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Somalia, is a Sunni Islamist religious extremist militant and political movement based in Somalia. It is involved in the ongoing Somali Civil War "Somali Civil War (2009–present)") as an Islamist group, regularly invoking takfir to rationalize its terrorist attacks on Somali civilians and civil servants. Allied to the pan-Islamist militant organization al-Qaeda, it is also in a more [...] Al-Shabaab was widely viewed as a genuine resistance movement against the Ethiopian military occupation; despite its inclinations towards hardline interpretations of Islam. Though the invasion had fractured the Islamic Courts Union, it galvanized non-ethnic religious Islamic nationalism on which Al-Shabaab capitalized, especially for recruitment purposes, with thousands of new recruits drawn to the group. [...] Al-Shabaab rose to prominence and radicalized following the full scale Ethiopian invasion of Somalia during December 2006. At the time, Al-Shabaab was about six hundred fighters strong. The invasion resulted in the deaths of many Islamic Courts Union affiliates, leaving a vacuum for the small group of several hundred youth that served as the ICU's Shabaab militia to gain prominence. During the military occupation the group garnered popular support from across many segments of Somali society, as

• Al-Shabaab - terrorist group

  The Harakat Shabaab al-Mujahidin—commonly known as al-Shabaab—was the militant wing of the Somali Council of Islamic Courts that took over most of southern Somalia in the second half of 2006. Despite the group’s defeat by Somali and Ethiopian forces in 2007, al-Shabaab—a clan-based insurgent and terrorist group—has continued its violent insurgency in southern and central Somalia. The group has exerted temporary and, at times, sustained control over strategic locations in those areas by [...] Al-Shabaab is responsible for the assassination of Somali peace activists, international aid workers, numerous civil society figures, and journalists, and for blocking the delivery of aid from some Western relief agencies during the 2011 famine that killed tens of thousands of Somalis. In 2008, the US Government designated al-Shabaab as a Foreign Terrorist Organization under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (as amended) and as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity [...] Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for many bombings—including various types of suicide attacks—in Mogadishu and in central and northern Somalia, typically targeting Somali government officials, AMISOM, and perceived allies of the FGS. Since 2013 al-Shabaab has launched high-profile operations in neighboring countries, most notably the September 2013 Westgate mall attack in Nairobi, the May 2014 attack against a restaurant in Djibouti popular with Westerners, and the April 2015 massacre of

• Al Shabaab

  Al Shabaab Updated February 14, 2023 (IF10170) Al Shabaab (Harakat Al Shabaab Al Mujahidin, Mujahidin Youth Movement) is a Somalia-based insurgent and terrorist group that U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) in 2022 labeled "the largest, wealthiest, and most lethal Al Qaeda affiliate in the world today." AFRICOM reports that the group poses the greatest danger to U.S. citizens and interests in East Africa, and is a threat to the United States. [...] Al Shabaab held much of south-central Somalia, including the capital, from the late 2000s until African Union (AU) forces gained momentum against the insurgency in 2011-2012 and reclaimed some territory from the group. Shabaab has nevertheless retained control over parts of the country, despite international recognition of Somalia's federal government in 2012 and a range of multilateral efforts to degrade its capacity. The group also maintains influence and the ability to conduct attacks in [...] Al Shabaab rejects democracy, broadly ascribing to a vision of uniting ethnic Somali-inhabited areas of Djibouti, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia in an Islamic state under its version of Sharia law. It characterizes the Somali government as an illegitimate apostate authority that is beholden to foreign powers. Al Shabaab leaders have repeatedly expressed their commitment to global jihad. They justify attacks outside Somalia as retaliation against countries conducting military operations in Somalia

• Food, Terrorism, and the Boko Haram and Al-Shabaab Insurgencies

  Al-Shabaab (“The Youth”) emerged in Somalia in the mid-2000s, during the Ethiopian intervention against the Islamic Courts Union (ICU). After a first rapid expansion, which saw the group tightening its grip on the capital Mogadishu, militants have lost several strongholds, suffering setbacks in the conflict against national forces and the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). However, despite having progressively decentralized its structure throughout the East Africa region,Footnote118

• [PDF] Integrated Country Strategy (ICS) - Somalia - U.S. Department of State

  Somalia. Description | The al-Shabaab and ISIS-Somalia terrorist groups threaten Somalia’s long-term peace, security, and stability. They also launch attacks in the region, including attacks on Americans. They aspire to launch attacks beyond the region. Al-Shabaab is a particularly formidable threat: it controls or influences territory and populations throughout the country, continues to launch deadly attacks on “soft targets” and civilians, maintains the ability and intent to strike beyond