Deadly day in Mogadishu shows weakened Somali Al Shabab not defeated:

 African Union and government forces sealed roads and searched homes on Monday in an attempt to flush out militant Islamists, reports said. The al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab group said it carried out the attacks. Suicide bombers blew themselves up in the main court buildings and later a car bomb exploded on a busy road. "At least 30 people died and 20 others were injured.

Just last January we were hopeful but apprehensive.

African Union: Somalia's al-Shabab Being 'Systematically Destroyed':

We thought that Al Shabab would now disperse throughout the world, in fact some have shown up in Mali and Afghanistan.

After what happened to the United States ending with Black Hawk Down and our departure from Somalia I thought Al Shabab would never be defeated. Then I came to the realization that they could be defeated if area countries and the world rallied around the effort to make them a non entity at least as a separate arm of Al Qaeda. Well it has happened and they are being defeated.

Kenyan jets kill '60 or more' Somali insurgents: Kenyan jets bombed an al Shabaab camp in southern Somalia Friday killing 50 fighters of the rebel group and injuring 60 others, its military spokesman said. Emmanuel Chirchir told Reuters the fighters of the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group at the camp situated south of Garbahare had been planning to attack Kenyan and Somali troops in two nearby towns captured by Kenyan forces this week. "This is one of the biggest losses to the al Shabaab. The concentration of fighters was believed to be preparing to attack our troops in Fafadun and Elade," Chirchir said.

AU: Somalia's al-Shabab Being 'Systematically Destroyed': The African Union is asking the United Nations to fund a final push aimed at crushing al-Shabab by August. "The Shabab as a military force is being systematically and steadily destroyed. They have been defeated in Mogadishu, they are now being defeated in the Gedo and Juba regions, same happened in Beledweyn a week ago," Lamamra said.

Al Shabab's demise is not guaranteed yet and I still believe many have largely left for the Gulf of Aden, Yemen, and other areas they think they will have an impact. Their demise though started with a new militia faction that is about the only group in the country to go against the al-Shabab and win. The Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jama - followers of Sufism or mystical Islam - are mostly volunteering students who say they have no political ambitions beyond expelling al-Shabab from the capital, one district at a time. Time to put them in overdrive as you will agree. the Al Shabab killers Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jamma

In the beginning of last year: Somalia conference opened with Al-Shabaab under pressure: Ahead of a key international conference on beleaguered Somalia, transitional government forces, backed by Ethiopian allies, seized a key southern town that was once a strategic stronghold for Islamic militants.At the United Nations, meanwhile, the Security Council voted unanimously to increase the African Union force in Somalia from 12,000 to 17,731 troops. It worked!

The town of Baidoa fell into government hands, said Mohamed Ibrahim Habsade, a Somali member of parliament and an officer leading the fight. Baidoa lies on a key commodities route, and last year, global aid agencies flew in emergency supplies to the town to help thousands of hungry Somalis fleeing drought-ridden areas. Al-Shabaab militants abandoned the town in fear as government troops closed in.

Then: Somalia al-Shabab militant base of Baidoa captured: Ethiopian and Somali troops had taken a strategic stronghold of Islamist militants in south-western Somalia.Eyewitnesses told the BBC that about 50 vehicles, including some 20 tanks, had entered Baidoa, which was not defended The BBC's Mohamed Dhore in the capital, Mogadishu, said Baidoa was the most important al-Shabab base after the southern port of Kismayo

.Al-Shabab, which has joined al-Qaeda, confirmed that it had withdrawn its forces.

Then: Airstrike Targets Al Shabaab, Air strikes pummeled Somalia's southern region on killing six. Among the dead were two leading foreign Jihadists and four of their Somali comrades. The strike came a day after international leaders met in London to discuss boosting efforts against instability in Somalia.

The attack was launched against the Islamist militant group, al Shabaab, who largely controlled the southern region of the country. The aerial attack took place in the Lower Shabelle region, when unidentified warplanes targeted cars with militants inside. Somali intelligence officials said the foreigners killed in the attack were a Kenyan and an Egyptian.

This recent event merely shows that we can not relent until we have eradicated Al Shabab and all Al Qaeda and other terrorists. We can do this and must be more stoic and relentless than the Islamists.

James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com