Somali Terrorist Group al-Shabab Have Banned Plastic Bags

A file photo of Al-Shabaab militants parading new recruits after arriving in Mogadishu. Photograph: Feisal Omar/Reuters

Business Insider/LobeLog: The real reason terror group al-Shabaab banned plastic bags

* Somali terrorist group al-Shabab said last year that it was banning plastic bags.
* The prohibition attracted derision, especially from Western media.
* But given the group's recent setbacks, the ban makes sense as an act of self-preservation.

Terrorism is no laughing matter. But the notorious Somali terrorist group al-Shabaab managed to become the subject of derision in the news media when it declared last year that it was banning plastic bags.

Al-Shabaab, al-Qaeda's affiliate in Somalia, claimed that plastic bags presented "a serious threat to the well-being of humans and animals alike." Websites from The Daily Caller to The Small Wars Journal tweeted their mockery about the terrorist group's peculiar edict while a photojournalist for the magazine National Geographic had to clarify his own tweet about the phenomenon as "not satire."

Al-Shabaab remains far from the first associate of al-Qaeda to try tackling environmental issues. Osama bin Laden spent several of his last days fretting over climate change, and the reclusive leader of the Taliban encouraged Afghans to plant more trees in a bizarre "special message" in 2017.

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WNU Editor: There is a reason behind this ban.