“We don’t admit Africans that we don’t know because you never know who is al-Shabaab and who isn’t,”

[barryqwalsh]

“It is not like it is written on somebody’s face that they are a thug armed with a gun.”

Staff were quoted saying the restaurant’s security detail were under strict instruction not to let in any Africans in the evening, although one or two “loyal customers” were allowed.

The story triggered outrage across the internet. Under the hashtag#noblacksallowed, Twitter users called for the restaurant to be shut down.

— Mejja wa Gitugi (@mejja_mwangi)March 24, 2015
@angelaangwenyi @herbotawa @nationfmke#NoBlacksAllowed are heading 2 the S Africa's times of the apartheid?

“I don’t understand how this article isn’t ironic. This can’t be real,” one reader, Aisha, said. Most commentators demanded the deportation of the restaurant owners.

No Africans Chinese restaurant owner arrested in Nairobi World news The Guardian

 

[Mad Scientist]

Yeah how DARE they protect themselves!

 

[waltky]

Al-Shabaab attacks Kenyan soldiers...

Dozens of Kenyans soldiers reportedly killed in al-Shabab attack in Somalia
Friday, Jan. 15, 2016 - Al Shabaab fighters attacked a remote Somali army base and entered a nearby town close to the border with Kenya on Friday, saying they had killed dozens of Kenyan soldiers in an African Union force supporting the government.

Somali and Kenyan military officials said fighters seized the Somali army base near the town of Ceel Cadde, about 550 km (340 miles) west of Mogadishu in a region near Kenya’s border. Al Shabaab said it killed more than 60 Kenyan soldiers from the African force AMISOM, which said there was a battle for the base without giving details. Kenya’s Defence Ministry said both sides suffered casualties but said numbers were not confirmed. “Our gallant soldiers reacted swiftly to protect their camp,” Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said. “Regrettably, some of our patriots in uniform paid the ultimate price.” But he said “we will not be cowed” by the attack, which al Shabaab said was to drive Kenyans and others out of Somalia.

A shopkeeper in the Ceel Cadde town said soldiers from AMISOM appeared to have left the town and fighters were on the streets. “We see al Shabaab in every corner of town,” shopkeeper Abdullahi Iidle told Reuters. “Some residents have fled.” Al Shabaab has been driven out of major strongholds in Somalia by AMISOM and Somali army offensives launched last year. But the group still controls some rural areas and often launches guerrilla-style assaults and bomb attacks. The group, which is aligned with al Qaeda, said it took over the base after a suicide bomber rammed its gates, and also controlled the town, capturing nearly 30 trucks and armored vehicles. “This attack sends a clear message to the Kenyan government that their military’s invasion of our Muslim lands and the massacre of innocent Muslims perpetrated by the Kenyan crusaders will not be without severe consequences,” al Shabaab said.

Kenyan army soldiers ride on a vehicle at their base in Tabda, inside Somalia.​

The group, which said it would “expel” the invaders, said in a statement that more than 63 Kenyans soldiers were killed. Al Shabaab, which said the base was overrun, has inflated casualty figures in the past, while the Somali government and other official estimates often play down numbers. The Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) said al Shabaab fighters overran the Somali army base and AMISOM had counter-attacked. A senior Somali military official also confirmed the militants had taken over the base. “AMISOM has gone out of the town and base for strategic reasons,” Somali Colonel Farah Surow, who is based about 100 km (60 miles) from the Ceel Cadde base, told Reuters.

African Union troops, now numbering about 22,000 from several African nations, have spent nearly a decade battling al Shabaab insurgents in Somalia, a country mired in conflict since civil war broke out in 1991. Al Shabaab has in the past year staged multiple attacks against African Union bases in Somalia, part of a guerrilla warfare strategy to drive out foreign troops and impose its harsh version of Islamic law across the Horn of Africa nation.

Dozens of Kenyans soldiers reportedly killed in al-Shabab attack in Somalia

 

[jwoodie]

The greatest significance of these events is their rarity.

 

[waltky]

150 al-Shabba killed in one strike...

Pentagon: Airstrikes kill 150 al-Shabab 'graduates' prepping for Somali attack on U.S. troops
March 7, 2016 -- At least 150 militant fighters in Somalia were killed over the weekend by U.S. airstrikes, officials say, as they were preparing an attack on American and allied forces in East Africa.

The Saturday strikes centered on an al-Shabab training camp in Rasa, about 120 miles north of the capital Mogadishu, Pentagon officials said. The airstrikes were carried out with both manned fighter jets and drones, defense officials said. "The fighters who were scheduled to depart the camp posed an imminent threat to U.S. and African Union Mission in Somalia forces in Somalia," Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said in a statement Monday.

The fighters with al-Shabab, a Somali jihadist group aligned with al-Qaida, were finalizing training for "a large-scale attack" against American special operations troops and African Union soldiers, Pentagon officials said. The militants were going through a mock graduation ceremony at the time of the airstrikes. "They were standing outdoors in formation," one official said.

It wasn't made clear exactly how U.S. defense officials knew an attack against American and African forces was coming, but the group and the training camp has been under heavy Pentagon surveillance in recent weeks. "The removal of these fighters degrades al-Shabab's ability to meet the group's objectives in Somalia, including recruiting new members, establishing bases and planning attacks on U.S. and AMISOM forces," Cook added.

Defense officials said al-Shabab is attempting to convalesce after the group's leadership was effectively decapitated by American forces two years ago, following its attack on Kenya's Westgate Mall in 2013. Al-Shabab was responsible for a beachfront attack in Mogadishu in January and another assault that killed more than 20 people last month. The group also was responsible for a failed bombing plot against a Somali jetliner last month.

Pentagon: Airstrikes kill 150 al-Shabab 'graduates' prepping for Somali attack on U.S. troops

See also:

Report of 150 killed in U.S. airstrike exaggerated, al-Shabab says
March 8, 2016 - A spokesman said al-Shabab never convenes so many people in one location for security reasons.

Somali militant group al-Shabab said a U.S. report that more than 150 of its troops died in weekend airstrikes is exaggerated. Pentagon officials announced the airstrikes occurred Saturday on an al-Shabab training camp in Rasa, Somalia, about 120 miles from the capital of Mogadishu. They said those at the camp, were preparing a "large scale attack" on U.S. and allied forces in East Africa. The officials said a graduation ceremony was in progress at the moment of the start of the airstrikes.

But an al-Shabab official said the death toll in the attack wasn't as severe as U.S. officials said. "The Americans are dreaming. We never gather that many of our fighters in one place," Abdulaziz Abu Musab, the group's military operations spokesman, told news organization Al Jazeera by telephone Tuesday. "We know the security situation. Yes, the attack happened and it happened at the location they mentioned, but the number they are telling the world is a lie." He did not offer an alternate death count.

Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said Monday in a statement, "The fighters who were scheduled to depart the camp posed an imminent threat to U.S. and African Union Mission in Somalia forces in Somalia." "They were standing outdoors in formation," one official said. The United States maintains a major military base at Camp Lemonnier in neighboring Djibouti, from which the airstrikes, which included fighter planes and drones, are believed to have originated.

Al-Shabab is informally aligned with al-Qaida and has conducted a number of attacks on AMISOM bases in Somalia and neighboring countries, and on civilian targets in Mogadishu. The most recent attack was Jan. 15, when it attacked a base in El Adde, killing dozens of Kenyan troops. The Somali government said 180 soldiers were killed.

Report of 150 killed in U.S. airstrike exaggerated, al-Shabab says

 

[Asclepias]

“It is not like it is written on somebody’s face that they are a thug armed with a gun.”

Staff were quoted saying the restaurant’s security detail were under strict instruction not to let in any Africans in the evening, although one or two “loyal customers” were allowed.

The story triggered outrage across the internet. Under the hashtag#noblacksallowed, Twitter users called for the restaurant to be shut down.

— Mejja wa Gitugi (@mejja_mwangi)March 24, 2015
@angelaangwenyi @herbotawa @nationfmke#NoBlacksAllowed are heading 2 the S Africa's times of the apartheid?

“I don’t understand how this article isn’t ironic. This can’t be real,” one reader, Aisha, said. Most commentators demanded the deportation of the restaurant owners.

No Africans Chinese restaurant owner arrested in Nairobi World news The Guardian

Good thing their asses got arrested. Those Kenyans are not going to take that shit in their country.

 

[waltky]

MPs among dead in Mogadishu hotel attack...

Somalia attack: MPs among dead in hotel blast and gun raid
Wed, 01 Jun 2016 - Two MPs are among 10 people killed as al-Shabab gunmen storm a hotel in the centre of the Somali capital Mogadishu after car bomb attack.

Gunmen have stormed a hotel in the centre of the Somali capital Mogadishu, with reports of at least 10 dead and 50 wounded. The attackers entered the Ambassador Hotel on Maka al-Mukarama street after setting off a car bomb at the gates outside, witnesses said. Somalia's state news agency said two MPs were killed in the blast, with another four rescued. The al-Shabab militant group was quick to say it was behind the attack. The BBC's Somali Service reporter Ibrahim Aden in Mogadishu says the explosion is one of the largest to hit the city and the scale of destruction is huge.

Scene of bomb attack on Ambassador Hotel in Mogadishu​

Somalia's state news agency Sonna said at least 50 people were hurt and that the death toll was likely to rise. It named the dead MPs as Abdullahi Jama Kabaweyne and Mohamoud Mohamed Gure. The head of the city's Amiin ambulance service has told the BBC the main Medina hospital is overcrowded. "I was the first person to reach scene. The damage was enormous," Dr Abdulkadir Andirahman Haji Aden said. "My brother and his son were among those injured. We are now in Medina hospital and it is overcrowded with wounded people. I have never seen something like this."

Al-Shabab, which is battling the UN-backed government, was driven from Mogadishu in 2011 but still remains a potent threat and frequently carries out attacks in the city. The government, with the help of African Union forces, is fighting the al-Qaeda-linked group to regain control of the country. Earlier on Wednesday, the government announced it had killed Mohamed Kuno, the al-Shabab militant who led the attack on Garissa University in Kenya in April 2015 that killed 148 people. He was one of 16 al-Shabab militants - four of them senior leaders - killed in an overnight raid on their convoy in Kismayo, a port city in southern Somalia.

Somalia attack: MPs among dead in hotel blast and gun raid - BBC News

 

[waltky]

AU got al-Shabaab onna run in Somalia...

African Union repels al-Shabab attack, killing more than 100 Islamist militants
June 9, 2016 -- More than 100 al-Shabab militants were killed on Thursday when the militant Islamist organization attacked an African Union military base.

The attack occurred in a AU base in the village of Halgan, about 160 miles north of Mogadishu -- the Somali capital. Somalia's Ministry of Defense said at least 120 al-Shabab militants were killed. "We can confirm there was an attempted Al-Shabab attack on the AMISOM/SNA base in Halgan, Somalia," African Union Mission In Somalia, or AMISOM, said in a statement. "The enemy was successfully repulsed."

Andalus, al-Shabab's official radio station, said its militants killed 43 Ethiopian troops and destroyed the base. Halgan residents said at least five civilians were killed in the fighting. AMISOM, a 22,000-strong coalition, said it and Somali government troops captured and destroyed weapons including AK-47s, anti-aircraft guns and rocket-propelled grenades. It is the first time an Ethiopian-run AMISOM base has been attacked in the Somali conflict against al-Shabab.

African Union repels al-Shabab attack, killing more than 100 Islamist militants

See also:

Shabab Attack in Somalia Sets Off Predawn Gun Battle
JUNE 9, 2016 — A suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden car into the gates of an African Union base in central Somalia on Thursday, setting off a predawn gun battle between militants and African Union soldiers.

The Shabab militant group, which has been terrorizing Somalia for years, claimed responsibility for the attack in the Hiran region, saying on Somali news media that its fighters had stormed the base and killed dozens of soldiers. It is difficult to know what really happened in the attack. The Shabab often exaggerate their battlefield successes in their public claims. And the African Union rarely shares details about its confrontations with militants, and has tried in the past to minimize defeats.

Lt. Col. Joe Kibet, an African Union spokesman, said he could not comment on the number of union soldiers who were killed Thursday, but he did say that at least 110 Shabab fighters had died in the attack. “The fighting was heavy,” Colonel Kibet said. “We managed to repulse them with a lot of casualties, including many of them.” Somali government officials said that 240 Shabab fighters had been killed and that dead bodies were scattered for miles. Villagers in the area said they heard a loud explosion before dawn, followed by heavy exchanges of gunfire for at least an hour.

Somalia has been steeped in various degrees of chaos and bloodshed since its central government imploded in 1991. In recent years, the Shabab have emerged as the region’s most powerful and ruthless militant group. The Shabab are allied with Al Qaeda; their goal is to bring their interpretation of Islamic rule to Somalia. Lately, the Shabab have increased their attacks, striking civilians, government officials and soldiers from the African Union force that is trying to help stabilize Somalia.

In January, Shabab militants attacked a remote Kenyan Army base using similar tactics to those they did on Thursday in Hiran — a car bomb at the gates of the base, followed by hundreds of fighters on foot and in pickup trucks, blasting machine guns and firing rocket propelled grenades. Though the Kenyan government has yet to disclose how many soldiers it lost in that January battle, Western security officials have said that at least 150 were killed. Analysts have predicted that Shabab attacks would increase during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which began this week.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/10/world/africa/shabab-somalia-suicide-attack.html

 

[waltky]

al-Shabaab strikes hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia...

Police: 15 People Killed in al-Shabab Attack on Mogadishu Hotel
June 25, 2016 - At least 15 people were killed Saturday when the militant group al-Shabab attacked a hotel near Mogadishu's airport, setting off a massive explosion followed by gunfire, Somali police said.

A suicide car bomber attacked late in the afternoon outside the Hotel Naso-Hablod. Gunfire was heard shortly afterward inside the hotel, officials said. More than two dozen people were injured, and police said an unknown number of people inside the hotel had been taken hostage. But Abdifitah Omar Halane, spokesman for Mogadishu regional administration, told VOA's Somali service that the siege was over. He said security personnel stormed the hotel Saturday night and were searching for the gunmen. “The troops killed four militants who stormed into the hotel after the car bomb hit the hotel gate, and at least 15 other people have died during the attack," Halane told VOA.

A man raises his hands as he runs from the scene of a suicide bomb attack outside the Hotel Naso-Hablod in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu​

VOA reporter Abdulkadir Mohamed Abdulle in Mogadishu said there was a heavy exchange of gunfire, as well as another explosion, inside the hotel at the start of the attack. The hotel, used often by politicians and military officials, is north of the city's airport. The attack, the latest in a series against hotels and restaurants, came just three weeks after gunmen from the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab group stormed the Ambassador Hotel in Mogadishu. The militants besieged the hotel for more than 12 hours. Somali officials said 24 people were killed in that attack, including the three gunmen, and 57 people were rescued after being held overnight by the gunmen.

The attack also came while Muslims are observing Ramadan. In previous years, militants have increased attacks during the holy month, just before dawn or just after dusk, when people are gathering to break their daily fast. Earlier this month, Matt Bryden, a leading regional analyst and director of the Nairobi, Kenya-based Sahan Research organization, said al-Shabab has employed "the same tactics, techniques and procedures" in its attacks year after year. "I think that is where we see much more needs to be done in developing the capacity and the professionalism of the Somali security forces," Bryden told VOA.

Police: 15 People Killed in al-Shabab Attack on Mogadishu Hotel

 

[waltky]

Ethiopians fight like Iraqis...

Al-Shabab Seizes Key Somali Town After Ethiopians Pull Out
April 03, 2017 - Ethiopian troops fighting militant Islamist group al-Shabab have withdrawn from a key military base in central Somalia's Galgudud region, according to residents.

Heavily armed al-Shabab fighters took control of El Bur following the pullout of Ethiopian troops and a small number of Somali National Army soldiers early Monday. The fall of El Bur was confirmed by Nur Hassan Gutale, the town’s district commissioner, who said Ethiopians did not tell them the reason of their withdrawal. “The Ethiopians and our troops withdrew from the town and now it is under the control of the militants. The Ethiopians did not inform us about their withdrawal plan and once we saw them abandoning, our troops also abandoned,” Gutale said.

Residents of El Bur say al-Shabab militants traveling in pickup trucks moved into the town early Monday without a fight. “The militants traveling in more than six pickup trucks mounted with anti-aircraft machine guns moved into town this morning. They took up the strategic positions, raised their black flags on the top of some buildings,” one of the residents told VOA on the condition of anonymity.

AMISOM soldiers and armored vehicles pass a woman riding a cart during a patrol at a village outside Mogadishu​

Gutale has accused both the al-Shabab militants and the Ethiopian troops of mistreating the civilians. “Al-Shabab forced most of the residents to leave the town when the Ethiopians came three years ago. And the Ethiopians mistreated with some who remained in the town,” Gutale said. “The civilians had only two choices: to stay in the town and face the Ethiopian mistreatment or live as hostages under Al-Shabab." The reason for the Ethiopian troops' withdrawal was not clear, and their military officials were not immediately available for comment. El Bur was once the commercial hub and main stronghold of al-Shabab in central Somalia, but the group lost the town to Ethiopian troops serving under African Union peacekeeping mission known as AMISOM three years ago.

Analysts have warned the town was vulnerable to reoccupation by the militants because al-Shabab blocked all roads leading in and out, forcing almost all of the residents of the town to leave. Some Ethiopian soldiers are in Somalia as part of AMISOM while others are there as a result of a bilateral deal with Somalia's federal government. The Ethiopians serving the AU mission are responsible for securing Bay, Bakool, and Gedo regions in South Western Somalia, but they are also present in Hiran and Galgudud regions, where they have been moving into towns and withdrawing from others at will.

Al-Shabab Seizes Key Somali Town After Ethiopians Pull Out