Summary: a; Shabaab has increasingly been recuiting Westerners, and turning Kenyans against their own country. Considering that one of the Woolwich jihadis previously attempted to join al Shabaab al Shabaab, we must ask what his target was to be? Will other Western recruits to al Shabaab be turned against the West itself?
Al Shabaab has a long-standing recruitment drive aimed at Westerns and other foreigners. But with the recent murder and attempted beheading of a British soldier in Woolwich, London, a would-be al Shabaab has been connected to a terrorist attack in the West for the first time. Kenyan authorities have confirmed that Michael Adebolajo was held by their police in 2010 on suspicion of trying to join al Shabaab, al Qaeda's regional branch in the Horn of Africa. He was arrested and deported back to the UK in November 2010, after he was caught trying to cross the border to Somalia along with five other men. UK government sources have stated that one of the two Woolwich jihadis (it has not been confirmed which) was prevented from flying to Somalia last year, on suspicion that he intended to join al Shabaab.
Previously on Sharaabtoon, we have noted that Somalia's outreach to the Western recruits and donors has the potential to evolve into jihadi attacks on the West itself. Earlier this month, four ethnic Somalis were convicted of fundraising and recruiting for al Shabaab in Minnesota. Over forty Americans and dozens of Europeans, including Britons, are believed to be fighting for the organisation in Somalia. They also appear to have a "reporter" with a British accent working for their media wing. Increasingly, al Shabaab has been using 'new media' in suspected attempts to reach out to Western Muslims, notably using its official Twitter feed in October 2012 to threaten terrorist attacks against the UK if radical preacher Abu Hamza was deported to the USA (although such attacks have not yet emerged).
Although al Shabaab was likely not involved in the planning or execution of the Woolwich attack, al Shabaab has displayed a previous willingness to make use of foreign recruits in attacks against their own nation in one particular case: Kenya. Up to ten percent of al Shabaab's forces inside Somalia are now believed to be Kenyan citizen not of Somali ancestry, many of them recent converts from the predominantly Christian country. The "Kenyan mujahadeen", as they are referred to, have been used extensively by al Shabaab to carry out terrorist attacks (typically with guns, grenades and bombs) of increasing frequency in Kenya, as their ability to blend in to the majority population aids them in avoiding detection. Kenyan members of al Shabaab were even involved in carrying out the July 2010 bombing of crowds in Kampala, Uganda, watching screenings of the World Cup. Al Shabaab's leaders justifies these attacks as in response to the support of the Kenyan and Ugandan governments for Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (al Shabaab's bitter foe), a charge which can easily be levelled against many Western nations also. What the Woolwich jihadis have demonstrated is that al Shabaab-linked extremists are indeed capable of carrying out horrifying (if small) terrorist attacks inside the West -a worrying lesson for al Shabaab to take to heart.
Meanwhile, last night al Shabaab gunmen killed six people in attacks on Kenyan police posts near the Somali border. Two of them were police officers, one was a Red Cross teacher, and another was a fifteen year-old boy. Al Shabaab took credit for these attacks via Twitter, claiming that it had killed eight people and taken two hostages as well.
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