The Rise Of al-Shabaab

Nairobi Mall Attack Signals The Rise Of al-Shabaab -- Eli Lake, The Daily Beast

Al Qaeda’s Somalian affiliate has suffered major setbacks in its own country, but its deadly attack on a mall in Kenya Saturday shows its reach is widening. Eli Lake reports.

Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Somalia has suffered major setbacks in that country in the last year and a half. Saturday’s horrific attack on an upscale shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya shows al-Shabaab is not only alive but is capable of sowing mayhem outside the borders of the country it has fought over for nearly a decade.

The military-style assault Saturday at the Westlake Shopping mall in Nairobi was the first major al-Shabaab attack outside of Somalia since 2010 when the group set off bombs at multiple locations in Kampala, Uganda, killing more than 70 people who had gathered to watch the world cup.

Since then, al-Shabaab and its supporters have launched cross-border raids and smaller attacks inside Kenya, a country that has trained and supported Somali fighters aligned with the country’s weak interim government. In this same period, though, the group has lost its base of operations in southern Somalia. The last strong hold for al-Shabaab fell in October 2012 when Somali government forces, along with African Union peacekeepers, drove al-Shabaab out of its last safe haven in the port city of Kismayo.

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My Comment: Al Shabaab is definitely not dead.