Branch of Al Qaeda threatens Americans in U.S., East Africa

Al Qaeda’s branch in Somalia, the terrorist group’s largest and most active global affiliate, has issued specific new threats against Americans in East Africa and even the United States, U.S. commandos, counterterrorism officials and intelligence analysts say.

Several ominous signs indicate that the al Qaeda affiliate, alShabab, is seeking to expand its lethal mayhem well beyond its home base, and attack Americans wherever it can — threats that have prompted a recent flurry of U.S. drone strikes in Somalia to snuff out the plotters.

In recent months, two alShabab operatives have been arrested while taking flying lessons — one last summer in the Philippines and another more recently in an African country, intelligence officials say. AlShabab fighters are seeking to acquire Chinesemade, shoulderfired antiaircraft missiles.

U.S. commanders are hardening defenses at bases in the region after an alShabab attack in January at Manda Bay, Kenya, killed three Americans and revealed serious security vulnerabilities. That attack came about a week after an explosivesladen truck blew up at a busy intersection in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, killing 82 people. AlShabab also claimed responsibility for that attack.

The strike in Kenya came two months after alShabab released a 52minute video narrated by the group’s leader, Abu Ubaidah, in which he called for attacks against Americans wherever they are, saying the American public is a legitimate target. The statement mirrored Osama bin Laden’s declaration of war against the United States in 1996.

AlShabab controls large parts of Somalia and raises considerable funds through local taxation and extortion.

Agence France Press / Tribune News Service A man passes rubble of a hotel in Kismayo, Somalia, in 2019, a day after 26 people were killed in an attack by alShabab.