Ash Shabaab (Somalia)

Ash-Shabaab, Hizbul Shabaab ( "The Party of Youth").A group of Somali Islamists, primarily acting in Somalia.

The group developed in the wake of the loss of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) at the hands of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and its backers, primarily the military of Ethiopia, in the War in Somalia (2006–present).
An estimated 3,000 or so members of the ICU went underground to form an insurgency and armed cells across Mogadishu and elsewhere in Somalia, and are conducting attacks against the government and the allied Ethiopian forces. The term Shabaab ("youth") is common in the Islamic world for youth groups, and the current movement should not be confused with other similarly named organizations.

One of the group's primary objectives is the establishment of the rule of sharia.

Their origins are not clearly known, but former members say Hizbul Shabaab was founded as early as 2004. Al- Shabaab also has various foreign fighters from around the world, according to an Islamic hardliner Sheikh Mukhtar Robow Abu Manssor. Before the losses sustained by the Islamic Courts Union in December 2006, estimates of their strength varied between 3,000 to 7,000 members.

Al-Shabaab is said to have non-Somali foreigners in its ranks, particularly at its leadership. Fighters from the Persian Gulf and international jihadists were called to join the holy war against the Somali government and its Ethiopian allies.
Though Somali Islamists did not use suicide bombing tactics before, the foreign elements of Al-Shabaab are blamed for several suicide bombings. UN's 2006 report stated Iran, Libya, Egypt and others in the Persian Gulf region as the main backers of the Islamist extremists. Egypt has a longstanding policy of securing the Nile River flow by destabilizing Ethiopia. Similarly, recent media reports also cited Egyptian and Arab jihadists as the core elements of the Al-Shabaab, who are training Somalis in sophisticated weaponry and suicide bombing techniques. A few young Somali men who have emigrated with their families to the United States have also reportedly been recruited to fight in Somalia. According to UN Security Council documents, submitted by the US there are some 280-300 fighters being used by Somali rebel groups, mostly Al-Shabaab.

*The group has been blamed or claimed responsibility for, among other attacks, the February 2008 Bosaso bombings and the 2008 Hargeisa–Bosaso bombings.By late 2008, it was estimated that the group controlled the whole of southern Somalia, except for some pockets of Mogadishu. This was more territory than that controlled by the Islamic Courts Union at the height of their power.

*On February 22, 2009, al-Shabaab carried out a suicide car bomb attack against an African Union military base in Mogadishu, killing at least six Burundian peacekeepers.

*In May, 2009, al-Shabaab, along with allied grou Hizbul Islam launched a major offensive in the city of Mogadishu to take over the city leaving hundreds killed and injured and tens of thousands displaced. The group made large gains, taking over most of the capital.