Hell on earth: Somalia has pirates at sea and an Al Qaida staging ground at home
Tuesday, April 14, 2009 E-Mail this story Free Headline Alerts
CAIRO Ñ Somalia is notorious as a haven for pirates, but it has also emerged as a training ground for the Al Qaida network from which terror missions throughout the Middle East are prepared.
"Somalia has become for Al Qaida what Afghanistan was in the 1990s," an official said. "Al Qaida has tremendous influence over the government, and now maintains open areas for training."
On Monday, Somali insurgents fired mortars at a visiting U.S. Congressman as gangs threatened revenge against the United States for the dramatic rescue of an American captain who had been held hostage.
The Islamist insurgents targeted Mogadishu airport as an aircraft carrying Donald Payne took off after visiting the Somali capital to discuss the piracy problem with Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.
Officials said Al Qaida has been training suicide and other attackers for Al Qaida missions throughout the Middle East. They said Somalia was being employed for attacks in such countries as Kenya, Somalia and Yemen.
ÒOne mortar landed at the airport when PayneÕs plane was due to fly and five others after he left and no one was hurt,Ó a police officer at Mogadishu airport, was quoted as saying by the London Times.
Payne, a veteran New Jersey Democrat who is chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus and head of the House of Representatives subcommittee on Africa.
In March 2009, a suicide bomber blew himself up in Yemen in an attack that killed four South Korean tourists. Officials said the bomber, identified as Abdul Rahman Mehdi Al Ajbari, had been trained in Somalia.
Officials said Al Ajbari left Yemen in January 2009 and underwent two months of training in neighboring Somalia. They said Al Ajbari joined the stream of Yemenis who arrived in Somalia to work with Al Qaida and the ruling Muslim militia.
Yemen has also become a major base for Al Qaida for attacks in neighboring Saudi Arabia. Officials said Al Qaida preferred to train its members in Somalia to avoid monitoring and arrest by Yemeni authorities.