U.S. Citizen Indicted For Supporting And Receiving Military Training From Al Shabaab

The U.S. Justice Department released the below information:

Maalik Alim Jones, 31, of Maryland, was indicted based on his alleged support of al Shabaab, a designated foreign terrorist organization based in Somalia that is allied with al Qaeda.  Jones, a U.S. citizen, was presented before Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Frank Maas of the Southern District of New York on Dec. 19, 2015, pursuant to a criminal complaint. 

The charges were announced today by Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara of the Southern District of New York, Assistant Director in Charge Diego Rodriguez of the FBI’s New York Field Office and Commissioner William J. Bratton of the New York City Police Department.

“Maalik Alim Jones was charged with providing material support to al Shabaab and receiving training from the terrorist organization,” said Assistant Attorney General Carlin.  “The National Security Division’s highest priority is counterterrorism and we will continue to hold accountable those who seek to provide material support to terrorists.”

“As alleged, Maalik Alim Jones traveled to Somalia, received military training from al Shabaab, and took up arms as a terrorist fighter with an organization that has declared the United States a target,” said U.S. Attorney Bharara.  “Now, as ever, we are determined to protect the people of this country from the murderous designs of terrorist organizations.  Having allegedly sworn allegiance to al Shabaab, a terrorist organization bent on destroying America, Maalik Jones will now face American justice in a Manhattan federal court.”

“This case highlights the international nature of terrorism and the criminal actions taken in pursuit of attacks against others,” said Assistant Director in Charge Rodriguez.  “As alleged herein, Maalik Alim Jones, from Maryland, joined a terrorist organization in Somalia, traveled from New York to Kenya, through Morocco and the UAE, where he was trained to kill and destroy communities.  Recently he was caught trying to get to Yemen.  We applaud the thorough investigation by the agents and task force officers on FBI’s JTTF, who were able to identify his activities, stop his plans, and bring him here to face the U.S. justice system.”

“As alleged, Jones traveled to Somalia to fight on behalf of al Shabaab, learning to fire an AK-47 and rocket propelled grenade,” said Commissioner Bratton.  “He then used this training to attack the Kenyan government, fighting on behalf of this terrorist organization.  The work by detectives and agents of the New York Joint Terrorism Task Force should be commended, and the prosecutors of the Southern District of New York whose efforts led to this indictment.”

According to the allegations in the indictment and the complaint, which was unsealed today:

In or about July 2011, Jones traveled via commercial aircraft from New York to Kenya, with stopovers in Morocco and the United Arab Emirates.  After arriving in Kenya, Jones traveled by land from Kenya to Somalia where he trained, worked and fought with al Shabaab in Somalia.  Among other things, Jones received military training at an al Shabaab training camp, where he learned to operate an AK-47 assault rifle and rocket-propelled grenades.  Jones also became a member of al Shabaab’s specialized fighting force, Jaysh Ayman, and participated in combat against soldiers of the Kenyan government on behalf of al Shabaab. 

Jones has appeared with other al Shabaab fighters in at least two videos that were recovered from an al Shabaab fighter.  In one of the videos, Jones possessed a firearm, and is seen with several al Shabaab fighters who, on June 14, 2015, participated in an attack on a Kenyan Defense Force base in Lamu County, Kenya, during which two Kenyan soldiers were killed.

Jones is charged with conspiracy to provide material support to al Shabaab; providing, and attempting to provide, material support to al Shabaab; conspiracy to receive military-type training from al Shabaab; receipt of military-type training from al Shabaab; and possessing, carrying and using firearms during and in relation to a crime of violence.  If convicted, Jones faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment on the charges.  In addition, the firearms offense carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years’ imprisonment.  The minimum and maximum potential sentences are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for information purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant would be determined by the court.

The charges contained in the complaint are merely accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Assistant Attorney General Carlin joined U.S. Attorney Bharara in praising the investigative work of the FBI’s New York Joint Terrorism Task Force.  The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs also provided significant assistance. 

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sean S. Buckley and Andrew J. DeFilippis of the Southern District of New York and Trial Attorney Josh Parecki of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section. 

Africom Campaign Plan Targets Terror Groups

Jim Garamone at DoD News offers the below piece:

STUTTGART, Germany, Jan. 5, 2016 — In the face of growing threats from the African continent, U.S. Africa Command has spelled out its theater campaign plan, officials said here yesterday.

The plan is built upon the foundation of the strategy promulgated last year by Africom commander Army Gen. David M. Rodriguez, officials speaking on background told reporters traveling with Marine Corps Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Yesterday, the chairman visited Africom’s headquarters at Kelly Barracks here.

Five-Year Plan

Officials said Africom’s campaign blueprint is a five-year plan with five lines of effort.
The first is neutralizing the terror group al-Shabab in Somalia, officials said, and transitioning the effort to the African Union Mission in Somalia, known as AMISOM.

The second line of effort centers around the failed state of Libya, officials said, adding that the effort focuses on containing the instability in the country.

Officials said the third line of effort is to contain Boko Haram in West Africa.

Fourth, officials said, Africom will focus on disrupting illicit activity in the Gulf of Guinea and in Central Africa.

Fifth, the command looks to build African partners’ peacekeeping and disaster assistance capabilities, officials said.

This is a large job for a small command, an Africom official said. “The only permanent location we have is Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti,” he said. “Everything else is a very light footprint.”

The command does have cooperative security and contingency locations across the continent, officials said, noting these are essentially “cold bases” that would only be used in the event of an emergency.

In West Africa, Dakar, Senegal, is one of the cooperative security locations and U.S. forces used it during the Ebola crisis last year, officials said.

Officials said the bases also allow the command to protect American lives and property in the high-risk, high-threat posts. There are 15 of those posts in Africa, officials said.

Assisting Somalia

The theater campaign plan starts with neutralizing al-Shabab, officials said. U.S. forces have helped to train, equip and supply AMISOM forces that have played a central role in bringing stability to Somalia, officials said.

“Al-Shabab has been pushed out of most of the major population centers and is only a power in the Juba River Valley,” an official said. However, the official added, al-Shabab “is not a spent force” and it remains a threat -- particularly in terms of targeted attacks against neighboring AMISOM contributors.

Africom continues to monitor the al-Shabab threats to Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda in particular, officials said.

“The emerging issue we’ve seen in al-Shabab over the past six months is the movement at the lower levels of individuals toward [the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant],” an official said. “Pro-ISIL sentiment is increasing in Somalia and we’ve seen some efforts by al-Shabab leaders to strike down these efforts. Al-Shabab leaders remain firmly allied to al-Qaida.”

ISIL ‘Brand’ Makes Gains

Officials said this is an indication of the power of the ISIL “brand” in the extremist world. ISIL, especially after its success in Iraq and Syria, is viewed by extremists as a winning team, while al-Qaida is viewed as having waning operational capabilities. Al-Shabab has been manhandled by the AMISOM troops and the mid-level and lower extremists see ISIL as its savior, officials said.
Core-ISIL has not accepted the al-Shabab splinters as members of the caliphate, officials said.

“From our viewpoint, ISIL probably has very strict criteria for what groups they want to let into the fold,” the official said. “[They] want to make sure the groups coming in can sustain themselves, that they have a plan and have an ability to move.”

The Islamic State affiliates in Libya and Boko Haram in Nigeria have been connected with the extremists in Syria and Iraq for a number of years, the officials said. Boko Haram “officially” joined the terror network last year, officials said.

“Since then, what we’ve seen is an enhancement of Boko Haram’s propaganda and messaging efforts,” an official said. “That has been the most apparent result of the ISIL-Boko Haram ties. Their videos are more professional and tighter. They speak like an ISIL affiliate.”

But there has not been a significant shift of resources, people or even tactics, techniques and procedures to Boko Haram, officials said. The Nigerian-based terror group “is a self-sustaining entity,” an official said.

“We would expect that enhanced affiliation in the Horn of Africa would probably follow the same path,” the official said. “We would see improved propaganda and messaging, but not a shift of resources.”

ISIL Gets Battered

Terrorists in East Africa need material and resources from ISIL, but they are not going to get it, officials said. Core ISIL is hurting itself -- the Islamic State has lost Beiji and Ramadi in Iraq, it is under assault from the Kurdish peshmerga and the Syrian anti-ISIL coalition is making progress, officials said.

The coalition oil campaign is also having an effect on ISIL’s source of wealth, officials said.
Strengthening the AMISOM force and its capabilities will also serve to strengthen the Somalian government, officials said.

Containing Boko Haram is another factor, officials said, noting that Africom is working with local partners -- including Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger -- to contain the terror group. French and British officials are also working with local allies and the command, the officials said.

Challenge in Libya

Libya is a challenge, officials said, noting “increasing bifurcation between moderates and hardliners.” The weak central government allows the space for ISIL to build a safe haven that acts as a nexus for terrorist operations in northern Libya, officials said. This has quickly become more than a simple problem within Libya, as the group has launched attacks in neighboring Tunisia, officials said. Africom has also seen some foreign fighters going into ISIL in Libya, officials said.

Africom is looking to contain ISIL in Libya and degrade it, said officials, who estimate there are roughly 3,500 ISIL terrorists in Libya.

Note: In the above DoD photo by Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Dominique A. Pineirod U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., right, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, meets with U.S. Army Gen. David M. Rodriguez, commander, U.S. Africa Command, at Africom headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany on January 4, 2016.

The FBI's New Most Wanted Terrorist

The FBI announced that a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Somalia was added to FBI Most Wanted Terrorists List.

Liban Haji Mohamed, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Somalia, has been named to the FBI’s list of Most Wanted Terrorists, and a reward of up to $50,000 is being offered for information leading to his arrest and conviction. Mohamed is charged with providing material support and resources to al Qaeda and al Shabaab, a Somali-based terrorist organization.

“Al Shabaab has claimed responsibility for many bombings in Somalia and Uganda and the 2013 attack on the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya,” said Carl Ghattas, special agent in charge of the Counterterrorism Division at the FBI’s Washington Field Office. “Liban Mohamed is believed to have left the U.S. with the intent to join al Shabaab in East Africa. We believe he is currently there operating on behalf of that terrorist organization.”

You can read the rest of the piece and watch a video about the wanted terrorist via the below link:

http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2015/january/new-most-wanted-terrorist 

Pentagon Confirms Death of al-Shabab Co-founder

The DoD News offers the below piece:

WASHINGTON, Sept. 5, 2014 - Ahmed Abdi al-Muhammad, also known Ahmed Godane, the co-founder of the al-Shabab jihadist group, was killed Sept. 1 in a U.S. airstrike in Somalia, Pentagon Press Secretary Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby confirmed today.

"The U.S. military undertook operations against Godane on Sept. 1, which led to his death," Kirby said in a statement. "Removing Godane from the battlefield is a major symbolic and operational loss" to al-Shabab," Kirby said in a statement. "The United States works in coordination with its friends, allies and partners to counter the regional and global threats posed by violent extremist
organizations."

At a Sept. 2 Pentagon news conference, Kirby said manned and unmanned aircraft operated by U.S. special operations forces participated in an airstrike that destroyed an al-Shabab encampment and a vehicle located at that camp. Kirby added that the operation was a direct strike against the al-Shabab network, and specifically against Godane.

The operation was carried out after actionable intelligence was obtained that suggested that Godane was present at the camp, located south of the Somali capital of Mogadishu, the press secretary said at the news conference, noting that it was too early to tell whether the strike had killed him.

The aircraft fired several Hellfire missiles and laser-guided munitions, and no U.S. forces were present on the ground, either before or after the attack, he added.

Al-Shabab is a jihadist group based in Somalia. It has claimed responsibility for last year's attack on the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, which resulted in more than 70 deaths and 200 injured. The group is also believed to be responsible for many bombings, including suicide attacks in Mogadishu and in central and northern Somalia, Kirby said Sept. 2.

Pentagon Press Secretary Says U.S. Will Continue To Confront Terrorist Threat

The American Forces Press Service offers the below piece:

WASHINGTON, Oct. 7, 2013 - The U.S. military can put pressure on the al-Shabaab terrorist organization's leadership whenever it so chooses, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said today. In a statement, Little said U.S. military personnel conducted a targeted operation the night of Oct. 4 against Abdikadir Mohamed Abdikadir, known as "Ikrima," a Kenyan of Somali origin. Ikrima is a top commander in the terrorist group al-Shabaab, an al-Qaida affiliate, the press secretary said. He is closely associated with now-deceased al-Qaida operatives Harun Fazul and Saleh Nabhan, who played roles in the 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, he added, and in the 2002 attacks on a hotel and airline in Mombassa, Kenya, that resulted in the deaths of Kenyan and Israeli citizens, including children. The goal of the operation was to capture Ikrima under legal authorities granted to the Defense Department by the 2001 authorization to use military force against al-Qaida and its associated forces, Little said. "While the operation did not result in Ikrima's capture," he added, "U.S. military personnel conducted the operation with unparalleled precision and demonstrated that the United States can put direct pressure on al-Shabaab leadership at any time of our choosing." Working in partnership with Somalia's government, the press secretary said, the U.S. military will continue to confront the threat posed by al-Shabaab. "The United States military has unmatched capabilities and could rely on any of them to disrupt terrorist networks and plots," he added.

U.S. Special Operators Conduct Two Major Raids On Terrorists In Africa

Foxnews.com offers a piece on two U.S. Special Operations missions in Africa.

US forces have conducted two separate raids in Africa -- one on the Al Shabaab militant group in Somalia linked to last month’s Kenya mall attack that killed more than 60 people, and the other to capture a Libyan Al Qaeda leader wanted for his role in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa, Fox News can confirm.

In Somalia, the strike on Al Shabaab was carried out in the early hours before morning prayers in the seaside town of Barawe.

A resident said by telephone that heavy gunfire woke up residents before dawn prayers. The raid was carried out by US Navy SEALs, who came ashore and killed at least one individual at a villa where multiple high level Al Shabaab high level targets were supposed to be located. 

The targets were specifically wanted in connection with the Kenyan Mall attack that left dozens dead. The leader of Al Shabaab, Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr, also known as Ahmed Godane, had claimed responsibility for the shopping mall attack in Nairobi.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/10/05/us-forces-conduct-2-major-terror-raids/

Note: The above U.S. Navy photo shows Navy Seals in training.

Al Shabaab Operative Sentenced To 11 Months in Prison For Conspiring To Support And Receive Military-Type Training From A Foreign Terrorist Organization

The U.S. Justice Department released the below information today:

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that Mohamed Ibrahim Ahmed was sentenced today in Manhattan federal court to 111 months in prison for conspiring to provide material support to and to receive military-type training from al Shabaab, a terrorist organization based in Somalia. The U.S. Department of State has designated al Shabaab as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. He was sentenced by U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said, “Mohamed Ibrahim Ahmed traveled thousands of miles to align himself with al Shabaab, to aid their campaign of terror, and to learn their ‘ways of war.’ Today, his journey ends in prison and marks the latest victory in our constant effort to protect Americans from terrorism at home and around the world.”

According to the Superseding information filed in Manhattan federal court, and prior court filings:

Al Shabaab has used violent means to destabilize the government of Somalia and to force the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country. The group has recruited foreign fighters to join in its “holy war” in Somalia, resulting in men from other countries, including the United States, traveling there to engage in violent jihad. Al Shabaab has also made numerous public statements demonstrating its intent to harm the United States.

In early 2009, Ahmed left his home in Sweden and traveled to Somalia in order to support and receive military-type training from al Shabaab. While in Somalia, Ahmed contributed approximately 3,000 Euros to al Shabaab, received training and instruction with respect to bomb-making and bomb-detonation, and purchased an AK-47 rifle, additional magazines, and two grenades. Ahmed subsequently provided the rifle and magazines to an al Shabaab military commander.

* * *

In addition to the prison term, an order of judicial removal was signed, and Ahmed will be deported upon completion of the sentence. He was also ordered to pay a mandatory $200 special assessment.

Ahmed, 38, a native of Eritrea and a lawful resident of Sweden, was arrested in Nigeria in November 2009. On March 6, 2010, Ahmed was transferred to the custody of the United States and subsequently transported to the Southern District of New York for prosecution.

Ahmed pled guilty in June 2012 to one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization (al Shabaab) and one count of conspiracy to receive military-type training from a foreign terrorist organization (al Shabaab).

Mr. Bharara praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force based in Manhattan—which principally consists of special agents of the FBI and detectives of the New York City Police Department. He also expressed gratitude to the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Security Division, the Office of International Affairs, and the U.S. Department of State for their extraordinary assistance in the case. Mr. Bharara also thanked the governments of Sweden and Nigeria for their assistance in this matter.

This case is being handled by the Office’s Terrorism and International Narcotics Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys Benjamin Naftalis, John P. Cronan, and Rachel P. Kovner are in charge of the prosecution.