Another French Casualty From Somalia Raid?

The Somali rebels claim that a second French commando died of wounds sustained in the raid.

A second French commando has died from wounds in Somalia after a failed attempt at the weekend to rescue a French agent held hostage by al Shabaab since 2009, the Somalian rebel group said on Monday.
The al-Qaeda linked group also maintained that the hostage, Denis Allex, who France says it believes was killed during the operation, was still alive.
The militants put up fierce resistance when French special forces went into southern Somalia by helicopter under the cover of darkness on Saturday to try to free Allex.
There was some confusion over the exact outcome of the mission, with the French government saying at one point that one commando had died and the other gone missing and later saying that both appeared to be dead.
"The second commando died from his bullet wounds. We shall display the bodies of the two Frenchmen," Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, spokesman for al Shabaab's military operations, told Reuters by telephone.
Allex's fate would be decided later, he said.

By: Brant

Military Maps: Camp Lemonier

In case you were wondering what the base of most US actions in HOA looks like, here's the sat view of Camp Lemonier, and the aircraft that were on the tarmac that day.


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By: Brant

Anniversary: Black Hawk Down

October 3-4, 1993 were the two days of the Battle of Mogadishu.

The Battle of Mogadishu (more commonly referred to as Black Hawk Down or, for Somalis, the Day of the Rangers (Somali: Maalintii Rangers) was part of Operation Gothic Serpent and was fought on October 3 and 4, 1993, in Mogadishu, Somalia, between forces of the United States, supported by UNOSOM II, and Somali militia fighters loyal to the self-proclaimed president-to-be Mohamed Farrah Aidid who had support from armed civilian fighters. A U.S. Army force in Mogadishu, consisting primarily of US Army Rangers from 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment; B [Bravo] Company, 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (1st SFOD-D), better known as "Delta Force"; and helicopters from 1st Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, attempted to seize two of Aidid's high-echelon lieutenants during a meeting in the city. Shortly after the assault began, Somali militia and armed civilian fighters managed to down two MH-60 Black Hawk helicopters over the city. The subsequent rescue operation to secure and recover the crews of both helicopters drew the raid, intended to last no more than an hour, into an overnight standoff in the city. The battle resulted in approximately 20 deaths, 80 wounded, and 1 helicopter pilot captured amongst the raid party and rescue forces, including Pakistani and Malaysian troops. US sources estimate between 1,500 and 3,000 Somali casualties, including civilians; SNA forces claim only 315 casualties, with 812 wounded.

The crew of Super 6-4 a month before the Battle of Mogadishu. Winn Mahuron, Tommy Field, Bill Cleveland, Ray Frank and Mike Durant. (h/t Doctrine Man)

Want to replay the raid and try your own hand at the mission? Check out LNLP's Lock'n'Load: Day of Heroes, and refight Mogadishu on your own tabletop.

By: Brant

AU Troops Rolling Back Somalia Islamists

An amphibious assault has forced Somalia Islamists to abandon Kismayo. The BBC reports:

Islamist militants in Somalia say they have withdrawn from their southern stronghold of Kismayo, following an African Union (AU) military attack.

Kenyan and Somali forces launched a beach assault on al-Shabab's last major bastion on Friday but encountered fierce resistance.

A Somali commander told the BBC that AU forces were not yet in the city.

Kenyan troops are part of a force trying to wrest control of the country for the new UN-backed president.

Al-Shabab spokesman Ali Mohamud Rage told AFP news agency: "The military command of Shabab mujahideen ordered a tactical retreat at midnight."

Speaking to Reuters, the same spokesman confirmed the withdrawal, but added: "The enemies have not yet entered the town. Let them enter Kismayo, which will soon turn into a battlefield."

Al-Shabab commander Sheikh Mohamed Abu-Fatma confirmed the withdrawal orders to AFP: "We got orders from our superiors to withdraw from the city... this is part of broader military tactics we have set for the enemy."

Kenyan military spokesman Col Cyrus Oguna said the AU forces were in control of the northern parts of the city and were preparing to move to southern districts.

Kenya's Defence Minister Yusuf Haji told the BBC that al-Shabab had not yet vacated the area and it would "not be difficult for people who know the area well to sneak out without being detected".

But he said the people of Kismayo were "very happy and were welcoming Kenyan and Somali troops with both arms".

By: Brant

EU Attacks Somali pirates... On Land!

EU mans up; strikes Somali pirates on land.

The European Union naval force patrolling the Indian Ocean on Tuesday carried out its first air strikes against pirate targets on shore, with a pirate reporting that the raid destroyed speed boats, fuel depots and an arms store.
Bile Hussein, a pirate commander, said Tuesday the attack on Handulle village in the Mudug region of Somalia's central coastline will cause a setback to pirate operations. The village lies about 18 kilometers (11 miles) north of Haradheere town, a key pirate lair. There were no reports of deaths in the attack.
Maritime aircraft and attack helicopters took part in the attacks early in the morning on the mainland, an EU spokesman said.
The EU is the main donor to the Somali transitional government. It is also trains Somali army troops, and is reinforcing the navies of five neighboring countries to enable them to counter piracy themselves. The long coastline of war-ravaged Somalia provides a perfect haven for pirate gangs preying on shipping off the East African coast.

If anyone can find out more, we'd love to hear about what maritime attack planes were involved, and what ships they were launched from.

By: Brant

Libyan Fallout Reaches HOA Pirates

Weapons plundered during the Libyan revolution are making their way to Somalia.

Somali pirates have acquired sophisticated weaponry, including mines and shoulder-held missile launchers from Libya, and are likely to use them in bolder attacks on shipping, a senior maritime security analyst said on Thursday.
"We found that Libyan weapons are being sold in what is the world's biggest black market for illegal gun smugglers, and Somali pirates are among those buying from sellers in Sierra Leone, Liberia and other countries," said Judith van der Merwe, of the Algiers-based African Centre for the Study and Research on Terrorism.
"We believe our information is credible and know that some of the pirates have acquired ship mines, as well as Stinger and other shoulder-held missile launchers," Van der Merwe told Reuters on the sidelines of an Indian Ocean naval conference.

By: Brant

Hopes for Return to Normalcy Dashed in Somalia

A suicide bombing at a theater has claimed the lives of several sports officials.

At least 10 people, including the presidents of Somalia's Olympic Committee and Football Federation, were killed yesterday when an explosion ripped through Mogadishu's re-opened National Theatre, puncturing fragile hopes that life was returning to normal in the seaside city after the withdrawal of Islamist rebels.

African Union peacekeepers said a female suicide bomber caused the blast, but al-Shabaab, which claimed responsibility, said on its Twitter feed that its militants had planted the explosives beforehand.

The attack came two weeks after singers in bright yellow scarves performed at the opening ceremony of the theatre, an event hailed by the government as a sign that life was improving in a city that has known little but war for over two decades.

Government officials, including Somalia's prime minister, members of parliament and journalists were among those caught in the blast which targeted an event to mark the one-year anniversary of the start of a national television station.

"The blast happened as musicians were singing and spectators were clapping for them," said Salah Jimale. "Huge smoke made the whole scene go dark. People screamed and soldiers suddenly started opening fire at the gate. Some wounded people escaped and ran away."

Those killed included Somali Olympic Committee chairman, Aden Yabarow Wiish, and the president of the Somali Football Federation, Said Mohamed Nur. The deputy of the Olympic committee and the chairman for Somali boxing were both injured.

Hooray for Islam, the Religion of Peace, for killing officials trying to restart the country's international sports programs.

By: Brant

Dissent in Al-Shabaab Ropes American into Intrigue

An odd YouTube video shows an American-born terroristclaiming he's a target by the group he joined for the Jihad.

It seems that all is not well within Al-Shabaab, the Somali extremist group allied to al Qaeda. A short video was posted online Friday in which its best known propagandist, an American citizen from Alabama, said he believes that others in the group might attempt to assassinate him.

In the video, lasting just over a minute, Abu Mansour al-Amriki sat with a black banner behind him and a rifle leaning against a wall. In English and Arabic he says: "I record this message today because I feel that my life may be endangered by Harakat Shabaab al-Mujahideen due to some differences that occurred between us regarding matters of the sharia and matters of strategy."

He did not go into details and it's not known when the message was recorded.

Al-Amriki, whose real name is Omar Hammami, has become famous in jihadist circles for videos posted to YouTube and other social media encouraging fellow Americans to join Al-Shabaab. He is also seen in videos as a field commander, often shown leading fighters.

Ben Venzke of the terrorist monitoring group IntelCenter described the video as "unprecedented in recent history for a member of a major terrorist group to release a video fearing for his life from the very group he joined."

The English-language part of the video starts around 42 seconds in.

By: Brant

Chinese Navy Ranging Far & Wide

Their anti-piracy training is just another step toward a consistent world-wide blue-water force.

China's fast-modernizing navy is stepping up training for anti-piracy patrols off the coast of Somalia in a sign of its growing long-term commitment to overseas missions.
The first two-week course for 84 leading officers began this week at the Naval Command College in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing, the website of the military newspaper Liberation Army Daily said Friday. The officers will run drills and discuss military theory and experiences from China's previous anti-piracy missions, it said.
China first launched the anti-piracy patrols in December 2008, joining an international flotilla aiming to protect shipping in the Gulf of Aden. More than a dozen separate missions have followed, each consisting of two of the navy's most sophisticated missile frigates accompanied by a support ship.
The patrols marked a major break with the navy's traditional role of protecting China's coastal region, as well as Beijing's oft-stated opposition to foreign military interventions or overseas bases.
Along with boosting the navy's blue water capabilities in operations and resupply, the patrols appear to have whetted Beijing's appetite for even more ambitious missions.
In recent years, the navy has dispatched ships as far away as the Caribbean, and last year sent vessels to the Mediterranean to escort ships evacuating Chinese citizens from Libya.
Such moves have been facilitated by a wide-ranging naval upgrade fueled by double-digit annual increases in Chinese defense spending. Along with new destroyers, submarines and naval aircraft, Beijing last year began sea trials on its first aircraft carrier, a refurbished model purchased from Ukraine more than a decade ago.

By: Brant

US Raid in Somalia Rescues 2 Hostages

A night time raid in Somalia has successfully freed 2 hostages.

U.S. Special Forces troops flew into Somalia on a nighttime helicopter raid early Wednesday, freed an American and a Danish hostage and killed nine of the kidnappers in a mission that President Barack Obama said he personally authorized.
The Danish Refugee Council confirmed that the two aid workers, American Jessica Buchanan and Dane Poul Hagen Thisted, were freed and "are on their way to be reunited with their families."
The raiders came in very quickly, catching the guards as they were sleeping after having chewed the narcotic leaf qat for much of the evening, a pirate who gave his name as Bile Hussein told The Associated Press by phone. Hussein said he was not present at the site but had spoken with other pirates who were, and that they told him nine pirates had been killed in the raid and three were missing.
A second pirate who gave his name as Ahmed Hashi said two helicopters attacked at about 2 a.m. about 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of the Somali town of Adado where the hostages were being held.

Woot!

UPDATE:
Here's Secretary Panetta's statement on the raid.

Last night U.S. Special Operations Forces conducted, by order of the President of the United States, a successful mission in Somalia to rescue two individuals taken hostage on October 25, 2011. Ms. Jessica Buchanan, an American citizen employed by the Danish Demining Group, and her Danish colleague, Mr. Poul Thisted, were kidnapped at gunpoint by criminal suspects near Galcayo, Somalia.

Ms. Buchanan and Mr. Thisted have been transported to a safe location where we will evaluate their health and make arrangements for them to return home.

This successful hostage rescue, undertaken in a hostile environment, is a testament to the superb skills of courageous service members who risked their lives to save others. I applaud their efforts, and I am pleased that Ms. Buchanan and Mr. Thisted were not harmed during the operation. This mission demonstrates our military's commitment to the safety of our fellow citizens wherever they may be around the world.

I am grateful to report that there was no loss of life or injuries to our personnel.

I express my deepest gratitude to all the military and civilian men and women who supported this operation. This was a team effort and required close coordination, especially between the Department of Defense and our colleagues in the Federal Bureau of Investigation. They are heroes and continue to inspire all of us by their bravery and service to our nation.

By: Brant

An American "Tourist" in Somalia

A former US serviceman was caught allegedly trying to join a terrorist group in Somalia

A former U.S. Army soldier was charged Monday with attempting to travel to Somalia to join the terrorist group Al-Shabaab, according to the Justice Department.
Craig Benedict Baxam, 24, was arrested Friday at Baltimore-Washington International Airport as he returned from a failed effort to get to Somalia, authorities said.
The Maryland resident had an initial court appearance Monday afternoon on the charge of attempting to provide material support to a terrorist group.
The only time Baxam spoke during the hearing was to respond "Yes" when the judge asked if he understood the charge against him and the possible penalty.

By: Brant

Are We Waving A White Flag In The War Of Ideas?

(and am I using too many capital letters in the headline?)

So the Shababians in Somalia are pretty fond of twitter and that's casuing heartburn in the US.

The United States government is increasingly concerned about the Twitter account of the Shabab militant group of Somalia, with American officials saying Monday that they were “looking closely” at the militants’ use of Twitter and the possible measures to take in response.

Hmmm... this doesn't sound good.

Most of the Shabab’s Twitter messages are in English, not Somali, and are clearly meant for an outside audience. American officials said they were worried that the Shabab might be using Twitter to reach potential recruits in the West.

So we're not even going to try to win the war of ideas, eh?

American officials say they may have the legal authority to demand that Twitter close the Shabab’s account, @HSMPress, which had more than 4,600 followers as of Monday night.

That sure sounds like "no" to me?

The State Department said federal law enforcement agencies had taken action in the past against individuals using “Web hosting and related services.”

So we're no longer allowing people to make public idiots of themselves in pursuit of their misguided goals. We're now afraid of boasting boneheads in Somalia?! Really? We can't out-debate these guys? We can't demonstrate the superiority of our way of life without resorting to techno/legal methods of simply cutting off their voices?

By: Brant

The Internet Equivalent of a Slap-Fight

Kenyan Army and Somali AQ terrorists are duking it out on... TWITTER!

On Monday, the Islamic insurgent group al-Shabab used its Twitter feed to accuse Kenya of having a history of committing "barbarous acts" toward ethnic Somalis, and cited a 1984 massacre where human rights groups say Kenyan troops killed around 3,000 ethnic Somali men in eastern Kenya.

Addressing more recent actions, al-Shabab's tweets that began last week claimed that Kenyan soldiers in Somalia "flee from confrontation & flinch in the face of death." The Twitter feed also described al-Shabab's own press release giving details about Burundian soldiers killed in an October battle between African Union peacekeeping troops and the insurgents. Al-Shabab claimed to have killed more than 150 AU troops at the time.

The AU only reported 10 casualties although Mogadishu-based security sources say the figure was closer to 70.

Al-Shabab's tweets, written in fluent English, mocked an earlier Twitter posting by Kenya's army spokesman, Maj. Emmanuel Chirchir, that threatened to bomb concentrations of donkeys that might be moving weapons for the insurgents.

"Your eccentric battle strategy has got animal rights groups quite concerned, Major," the al-Shabab posting said.

The Associated Press has determined that both Twitter accounts - HSMPress and MajorEChirchir - are legitimate. It's not clear who is writing the al-Shabab tweets. Several Americans, most of Somali descent, have in recent years joined the group that Washington has designated a terrorist organization.

Chirchir has responded with his own barrage of tweets.

"With Al Shabaab joining tweeter, lets take fight to their doorstep," he wrote. Chirchir accused al-Shabab of stoning an innocent girl to death and chopping off hands. He noted that many commanders have banned bras in their territory, and urged readers to retweet the message in support of Somali women.

That's just so macho.

h/t Doctrine Man
By: Brant

Back on the Ground in Somalia

The incomparable Sean Naylor (with whom I had the good fortune to trade some correspondence back in the '90s) has an excellent series of articles in the Army Times that cover US operations in Somalia since 9/11. It's a long article, but it really is fantastic, and I'm betting Sean expands it into a book in the near future.

However, in 2006, an opportunity to gain greater access to Somalia presented itself when Ethiopia invaded Somalia in an effort to oust the Islamic Courts Union, an Islamist group (sometimes referred to as the Council of Islamic Courts) that had seized power in Mogadishu from the Transitional Federal Government. Ethiopia, which had fought two previous wars with Somalia, first sent forces across the border in July to prop up the TFG, which had moved to Baidoa, about 160 miles northwest of Mogadishu. But in late December, a far larger Ethiopian force invaded with the intent of driving the ICU from power.

Despite speculation that Ethiopia invaded at the U.S.’s behest, cables from the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa released by WikiLeaks indicate Ethiopia felt forced to act by circumstances in Somalia. “The GOE [government of Ethiopia] feels ever more compelled to intervene in southern Somalia to counter what it sees as the growing threat of an extremist Islamic regime in Mogadishu that is cooperating with Eritrea and other foreign elements to undermine Ethiopian stability and territorial integrity,” said U.S. Ambassador Donald Yamamoto in a Dec. 6, 2006, cable. The same cable accurately predicted Ethiopia would invade in late December and that the incursion might “prove more difficult for Ethiopia than many now imagine.”

The cables make clear that the U.S. expected Ethiopia to invade. Nonetheless, a senior military official said events caught Joint Special Operations Command, which controls the military’s elite special ops forces, unprepared.

“The military wasn’t prepared to take any advantage of it,” the official said. “We should have been leaning forward to capitalize on this, and we did nothing.”

JSOC scrambled to take advantage by sending in small teams with Ethiopian special operations forces.

“Less than a dozen” JSOC operators went in, drawn from a mix of units, the intelligence official said. The largest number came from Naval Special Warfare Development Group, sometimes known as SEAL Team 6. The Air Force’s 24th Special Tactics Squadron also provided personnel. The numbers were kept small “because we didn’t need that much,” the official said.

But even the secret deployment of such small numbers of JSOC personnel into Somalia created angst in Washington’s policymaking circles.

“It was very uncomfortable,” the intelligence official said.

By: Brant

Sneaking Around HOA, Looking for Terr's

Back to Somalia? And with great effect and no media coverage.

Starting in 2003, small teams of U.S. operatives would clamber aboard a civilian turboprop plane at a Nairobi, Kenya, airfield to embark on one of the most dangerous missions conducted by U.S. personnel in Somalia since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The teams combined CIA case officers and “shooters” from a secretive special operations unit sometimes called Task Force Orange, said an intelligence source with long experience in the Horn of Africa. “There were always at least two CIA case officers, and there were always at least two shooters,” the source said. “Everybody was armed.”

Those first secret missions were all about gathering human intelligence — “collecting information, validating information,” said the source. But they soon expanded to include working with warlords to hunt al-Qaida members, tapping cellphones, purchasing anti-aircraft missiles and, ultimately, developing a deeper understanding of al-Qaida’s East African franchise and how it fit into the wider al-Qaida network.

The Mogadishu missions became one of the most successful U.S. intelligence operations in the Horn.

By: Brant

Random Friday Wargaming: Lock 'n Load: A Day of Heroes

This one's a little personal... I actually know someone who died in Somalia. It's not like we were drinking buddies or anything; he was married to one of my ROTC classmates and I only met him once, but it's still a personal connection. I never really thought I'd see a decent wargame on the subject, but Mark Walker has done it. LNLP's excellent Lock 'n Load: A Day of Heroes, a standalone game using the fantastic Lock'n'Load rules.



Buy your own copy of A Day of Heroes at LNLP's website.

The CSW board is well-populated by experts in the game, and the designer on a frequent basis.

Master links/images from Boardgamegeek.com; message boards linked to Consimworld. Other links to the actual game pages...

By: Brant

South Koreans Kick Pirate Ass

A South Korean commando team has stormed a ship to rescue the crew from pirates.

South Korean special forces stormed a hijacked freighter in the Arabian Sea on Friday, rescuing all 21 crew members and killing eight assailants in a rare and bold raid on Somali pirates.
The military operation in waters between Oman and Africa — that also captured five pirates and left one crew member wounded — came a week after the Somali attackers seized the South Korean freighter and held hostage eight South Koreans, two Indonesians and 11 citizens from Myanmar.
"We will not tolerate any behavior that threatens the lives and safety of our people in the future," South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said in a brief televised statement, adding that the rescue was a "perfect operation."
In photos of the operation, a small boat loaded with South Korean forces can be seen alongside the freighter. Some commandos already aboard the ship appear to be hauling others up. In other images, pockmarks from artillery fire blanket the ship's bridge.
The successful raid is a triumph for Lee, whose government suffered harsh criticism at home in the weeks following a North Korean attack in November on a South Korean island near disputed waters. Critics said Lee's military was too slow and weak in its response to the attack, which killed two marines and two civilians.

By: Brant

GrogNews Daily Headlines

Today's WikiDrips...
Syria is still selling missiles to Hezbollah, the US is trying to stem the flow of arms from eastern Europe to enemies around the world, and NATO had a "secret" plan to defend the Baltic states (second article here).
And Assange surrendered to police in London.

Joint US-Japanese exercises are designed to send a message to the Norks. Reuters tries to answer what happens next on the Korean peninsula. The Southies are fortifying the islands near the Nork border. China is hitting back over criticism of North Korea.

Very quietly, Pakistan has assumed command of Combined Task Force 151 in the Horn of Africa.

India and France are increasing their defense cooperation.

Are there lessons to be learned from Pakistani anti-Taliban militias?

A US Navy petty officer is in deep doodoo for trying to sell classified military documents to undercover agents.

And US soldiers are going to unsafe extremes to meet military weight rules, which are themselves kind of ridiculously stringent.

By: Brant

GrogNews Weekend Headlines

Al Qaeda is denying they've plotted to target Muslim pilgrims, but given their track record for causing Muslim deaths - and their overall trustworthiness - you kinda have to consider it.

Somali pirates have freed a British couple held for over a year after the seizure of their private yacht.

A bomb in Afghanistan killed 3 Afghan policemen.

By: Brant

GrogNews Drive-Thru of Other MilBlogs

Taking a quick afternoon loop through some other great content on the web, we want to draw your attention to the following...

DefenseTech asks a very provocative question about the role that corporations will play in future security issues. It almost makes you wonder how prescient Tomorrow Knights really is...

Critical Threats has a very pessimistic assessment of the current situation in Mogadishu, pointing out that, among other things, the government is rather powerless even its own 'capital' and that the AU is the only thing keeping it close to in power.

Agile Flux has some very good points about knowledge management in the military space.

An Afghan journalists laments the half-hearted attempts at democracy there, and describes the corruption that de-legitimizes the electoral process. Oh, and they want to throw out the US with the Taliban...

How important are human relationships when fighting terrorism? DefenseTech has the latest article, but Shachtman pointed this out almost 4 years ago in WIRED. And FusionNET had cracked that code back in 2005 for XVIII Airborne Corps, and Map-HT is relearning that lesson now, and CIDNE continues to insist that anyone who wants their information to solve the same problems has to go through them.

By: Brant