Two years after Qatar was accused of sponsoring terrorism abroad – and isolated by many Gulf states and their African counterparts – comes the news that Qatar may well be coordinating attacks in Somalia. The New York Times reported Monday that it has possession of an audio recording made by…
Several nations and entities on the African continent have been noted with concern in the new annual report from the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), which evaluates the world’s worst violators of religious freedom and advises President Donald Trump and other key officials on policy toward those…
The death toll has risen to at least 30, as Somalia once again grappled with a massive terrorist attack in Mogadishu that became a daylong siege near the Maka Al Mukarama Hotel and Hilaac UK restaurant. The attack began about 9 p.m. Thursday when a car loaded with explosives crashed…
The United States says 52 al-Shabaab militants were killed in an airstrike on Saturday that targeted them near the town of Jilib in Somalia’s Middle Juba region. The airstrike came in response to an al-Shabaab attack against Somali National Army Forces, according to the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM). The AFP…
President Uhuru Kenyatta has confirmed that 14 people died in Tuesday’s attack at the Dusit Hotel in Nairobi, with hundreds of others injured and evacuated. “We are grieving as a country this morning; my heart, and that of every Kenyan, goes out to the innocent men and women violated by…
The death toll in Saturday’s bombing attacks in downtown Mogadishu, which targeted the complex where the country’s ministries of interior and security are housed, has risen to 13. More than 21 people were injured, many of them seriously, according to local news outlets who reported the initial car bomb blast…
Somalia’s President Mohamed Farmaajo and the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) said Saturday they want the United Nations Security Council to reconsider the African Union troop drawdown and transition to Somali security forces authorized under last year’s Resolution 2372. Their position was decided at a summit of the Troop…
The death toll in Somalia has now reached more than 300 people following the worst bomb attack to ever happen in the Horn of Africa nation. The massive truck bomb that exploded Sunday at the KM5 junction in Soobe, one of the busiest areas of Mogadishu, also left hundreds of…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
News outlets based in the United States say they have confirmed the authenticity of a letter from the Somali government, appealing for U.S. military assistance to stop a resurgent al-Shabaab from mining uranium and passing it on to Iran. Both the Fox News network and Voice of America (VOA) say…
A bold attack on a restaurant in the Somali capital of Mogadishu on Wednesday continued late into the night, as armed men held an unknown number of hostages inside. An updated story from the Associated Press said that at least 31 people had died in a violent and confusing attack…
United States military officials say eight al-Shabaab militants have been killed in an American airstrike in southern Somalia over the weekend. That strike occurred early Sunday morning at an al-Shabaab training camp near Sakow, in the country’s Middle Juba region, according to a statement issued by Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi…
A member of the United States military was killed Thursday by al-Shabaab militants near Barii, about 40 miles west of Mogadishu. It was believed to be the first such death of an American in Somalia since 1993. The U.S. Africa Command said in a statement that the death occurred as…
Heavy fighting was reported Friday morning following car bomb attacks that hit a Kenyan Defense Force base in the Lower Jubba region, near the border of Kenya and Somalia. News outlet Harar24 reports that Al-Shabaab fighters have overrun the base. Multiple reports from both residents and other local media said the attack…
The United States Embassy in Nairobi confirmed a shooting near its facility Thursday, but said no embassy personnel were involved. Kenyan officials tell the Associated Press that a man was fatally shot after attacking a guard outside the embassy wall. The man, a Kenyan from the Wajir region, stabbed the…
Somali security agents have released Al Jazeera journalist Hamza Mohamed, who was arrested Tuesday in Mogadishu. Radio Shabelle reports that Mohamed and cameraman Nur Mohamed were released from custody in the Somali capital. The Qatari news network had confirmed that Mohamed, a British national, was detained with the cameraman and two others while in Somalia…