European Jihadists Recruited for Action in Somalia
By Evan Kohlmann
Ever since Usama Bin Laden first endorsed the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) in their jihad against the internationally-backed Somali government early last July, European counterterrorism services have been carefully watching as homegrown militants living in the West have sought to journey for a chance at fighting in Somalia's new "holy war." On December 28, as reported today by the London Times, a notorious London-based extremist group formerly known as Al-Muhajiroun issued a statement directly endorsing the participation of British Muslims in the ongoing Somali conflict. According to the statement, Somalia is a formerly prosperous "Muslim land" that became an unfortunate victim of Western imperialism:
"Under the guise of providing humanitarian relief the UN and it allies (thousands of troops) occupied the Muslim land. This was totally rejected by the Islamists who small in number and poorly equipped killed many UN workers including 24 Pakistani apostates. At least 31 US soldiers were slain, whose bodies were dragged through the streets of Mogadishu (capital city) to show the world that this so called superpower is nothing but a bunch of cowards. These operations made the foreign occupying forces rethink their strategy and quickly withdrew in fear of losing more men."
Furthermore, according to the statement:
"Today the zeal of Islam is being reverberated all over the world and our courageous brothers and sisters in Somalia have asked the Muslims all over the world to support them and Allah (swt) has made it an obligation upon us to support them... The Ethiopians with full international support (from the Christian crusader regimes) and directly backed by illegitimate Israel (zionists) have violated the blood of the Muslims in Somalia. By committing such an act of terrorism the Muslims in Somalia and nearby lands have responded to the divine call of Jihad. The obligation of supporting the Jihad all over the world (including Somalia) is Fard Ayn (an individual obligation). You can fulfil this duty financially, physically and verbally. This honourable act must be carried out according to your own capabilities... no Muslim (man or woman) has an excuse of doing nothing at all."
It should be noted that Al-Muhajiroun members and disciples have previously traveled to various foreign conflict zones and have thereupon joined foreign terrorist organizations, including Al-Qaida, Hamas, and Lashkar-e-Taiba. Two former London-area followers of Al-Muhajiroun executed a suicide bomb attack on behalf of Hamas targeting a British-themed pub in Tel Aviv in 2003.
Ever since Usama Bin Laden first endorsed the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) in their jihad against the internationally-backed Somali government early last July, European counterterrorism services have been carefully watching as homegrown militants living in the West have sought to journey for a chance at fighting in Somalia's new "holy war." On December 28, as reported today by the London Times, a notorious London-based extremist group formerly known as Al-Muhajiroun issued a statement directly endorsing the participation of British Muslims in the ongoing Somali conflict. According to the statement, Somalia is a formerly prosperous "Muslim land" that became an unfortunate victim of Western imperialism:
"Under the guise of providing humanitarian relief the UN and it allies (thousands of troops) occupied the Muslim land. This was totally rejected by the Islamists who small in number and poorly equipped killed many UN workers including 24 Pakistani apostates. At least 31 US soldiers were slain, whose bodies were dragged through the streets of Mogadishu (capital city) to show the world that this so called superpower is nothing but a bunch of cowards. These operations made the foreign occupying forces rethink their strategy and quickly withdrew in fear of losing more men."
Furthermore, according to the statement:
"Today the zeal of Islam is being reverberated all over the world and our courageous brothers and sisters in Somalia have asked the Muslims all over the world to support them and Allah (swt) has made it an obligation upon us to support them... The Ethiopians with full international support (from the Christian crusader regimes) and directly backed by illegitimate Israel (zionists) have violated the blood of the Muslims in Somalia. By committing such an act of terrorism the Muslims in Somalia and nearby lands have responded to the divine call of Jihad. The obligation of supporting the Jihad all over the world (including Somalia) is Fard Ayn (an individual obligation). You can fulfil this duty financially, physically and verbally. This honourable act must be carried out according to your own capabilities... no Muslim (man or woman) has an excuse of doing nothing at all."
It should be noted that Al-Muhajiroun members and disciples have previously traveled to various foreign conflict zones and have thereupon joined foreign terrorist organizations, including Al-Qaida, Hamas, and Lashkar-e-Taiba. Two former London-area followers of Al-Muhajiroun executed a suicide bomb attack on behalf of Hamas targeting a British-themed pub in Tel Aviv in 2003.
posted by Marko at 1/15/2007 07:13:00 AM
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