Somali Extremists Have al Qaeda Ties -- A Commentary

This photo taken Wednesday April 15, 2009 and released by the French Defense Ministry, showing the interception of a small vessel, left, by French military officers aboard two dinghies, right, on Wednesday, 550 miles (900 kilometers) east of the Kenyan port of Mombasa. The French Defense Ministry says it detained 11 pirates during a French assault on a pirate 'mother ship' and thwarted a pirate attack on a Liberian-registered vessel. (AP Photo/Ecpad/HO)

From Wall Street Journal:

Another failed state has become a training ground for terrorists.

The mortars fired at the plane carrying New Jersey Rep. Donald Payne out of Mogadishu Airport on Monday were a sharp reminder that although the recent focus on Somalia has been on piracy, the bigger threat comes from terrorists operating onshore. On land, radical jihadists now have one of the largest territories from which to operate since the Taliban hosted al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

The terrorist group that fired on Mr. Payne is al Shabab ("the Youths"), a one-time military wing of the Islamist Courts Union that ruled Somalia for six months before Ethiopia invaded and deposed them in December 2006. Designated as a terrorist organization by the State Department, al Shabab's aim is to create a Taliban-style Islamic state in Somalia. In pursuit of this goal it uses the most ruthless of methods: executions, beatings, torture and suicide bombing.

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More News On Somali Piracy

French nab 11 pirates as threats mount on US ships -- Yahoo News/AP
French detain 11 Somali pirates, ship freed -- Yahoo News/Reuters
Somali pirates vow to hunt down, kill Americans -- Breitbart/AP
Pirates say rocket attack on American ship was revenge -- AFP
Somali attack on US vessel was 'act of revenge, not piracy' -- Times Online
'Relief' after failed ship attack -- BBC
Perils of the sea -- The Economist
'No cowards': How ship's crew fought off Somali pirates -- McClatchy News
Maersk Alabama officer: Pirates 'greedy' -- The Economist
FACTBOX - Pirates risk choking key trade route -- Reuters
A look at vessels still held by Somali pirates -- AP