CIAO DATE: 05/2014
February 2014
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Matt Bryden examines the evolution of Al-Shabaab’s leadership, ideological outlook, and military strategy in a new report from the CSIS Africa Program. With the loss of territory in Somalia and a purge of its more pragmatic and nationalist leaders, the group has become a more unified and extremist movement. It will likely seek to expand its links with Al-Qaeda and other transnational terrorist groups and rely more heavily on complex martyrdom operations like the September 2013 attack on Nairobi’s Westgate Mall.
Resource link: The Reinvention of Al-Shabaab [PDF] - 947K