Al Shabab

Death toll from the attack on a hotel in Somalia’s port city of Kismayu has risen to 26, with Kenyans, Americans, a Briton and Tanzanians among the dead.

Countries in the Horn of Africa continue to face a growing threat from extremist Islamist groups, particularly the Somali militant group al-Shabaab.

Hoping to capture a high-profile target, U.S. special forces hopped off helicopters a couple of miles (kilometers) from an al-Shabab-controlled town, slipped through the dark and then got into a fierce firefight that reportedly killed more than 10 Islamic extremists.

The defections of two fighters, an American and a U.S. resident, from Somalia’s Islamic extremist rebels highlight tensions within al-Shabab over whether it should remain affiliated to al-Qaida or switch allegiance to the Islamic State group, an al-Shabab commander said Tuesday.

Somalia’s security forces on Monday arrested an American who was fighting with the Islamic extremist al-Shabab group, says an African Union official.

Five Islamic extremists attacked a hotel at dawn Sunday in the capital, Mogadishu, killing at least 6 people and injuring 10, before all the assailants were killed.

NYPD Commissioner William Bratton stressed that American law enforcement, specifically the NYPD, have an unprecedented security challenge later this month.

Al-Shabab' overran an African Union base in southern Somalia early Tuesday, a Somali military official said

Kenya’s military Monday said they had killed the commander of al-Shabab extremist group responsible for two attacks a year ago that killed at least 60 people

The Somalia-based terrorist group has a track record of recruiting immigrants from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area to fight with them.

A leader with the Islamic extremist group al-Shabab, who had a $3 million bounty on his head, surrendered in Somalia, a Somali intelligence official said Saturday.