Yemeni Fighters joins Somalia Muslims in Fight

MOGADISHU: The reported death in Mogadishu of Rajah Abu Khalid, an Al Qaeda commander from Yemen fighting alongside Al Shabab insurgents in Somalia, highlights Western concerns that the militants in Yemen are widening their war. Abu Khalid was critically wounded Dec.6 during heavy fighting between the insurgents and forces of the Western-backed Transitional Federal Government in the Somali capital, backed by peacekeeping troops of the African Union (AU), the Sunatimes Somali website reported.

He was taken to an Al Shabab hospital north of the city where he died, an Al Shabab commander told Sunatimes.

Abu Khalid is understood to have replaced Abu Musab, another Al Qaeda leader who was killed in fighting in Mogadishu several months ago. Both were senior members of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), based in Yemen, is the most effective and dangerous Al Qaeda affiliate currently operating.

Aqap has operational ties with Al Shabab, a militant  group linked to Osama Bin Laden’s al-Qaida core leadership, which has been fighting to topple the US-backed TFG in Mogadishu since December 2006.

The group is estimated to have 10,000 to 15,000 fighters.

Dozens, possibly scores, of Al Qaeda veterans from Yemen, Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan have been reported to have deployed in Somalia to reinforce Al Shabab.

In late 2009, Bin Laden reportedly named his top lieutenant in East Africa, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, as Al Qaeda’s operations chief in the region.

Fazul, from the Comoros Islands off East Africa, has been active for two decades. He was indicted in the United States for masterminding the August 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. According to the Long War Journal, a US website that tracks global terrorism, Fazul served as al-Shabaab’s intelligence chief before replacing the group’s leader, Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, killed by US Special Forces in southern Somalia Sept. 14, 2009.

These are only some of the hard-core al-Qaida operatives who have been reported in Somalia in recent times.

The group has suffered several reverses in recent months and appears to be torn by internal divisions. These include differences over whether it should accept foreign jihadists or stick to its own nationalistic objectives.

The TFG’s information minister, Abdirahman Omar Osman, claimed in October the group had “lost hundreds of fighters in the Ramadan offensive” aimed at driving the TFG out of its only foothold in Mogadishu.

With Yemen’s inept and corruption-plagued regime facing possible collapse as it grapples with major security and economic crises, including AQAP’s escalating campaign, there are fears it could end up like chaotic Somalia, which has been without a central government, functioning or otherwise, since 1991. - Agencies

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