Al-Shabaab targets Kenya for illegal taxes amid fallout within its top leadership

NAIROBI, Kenya - Cash-strapped Al-Shabaab has shifted focus to northeastern Kenya to revive their diminishing finance fortunes, an intelligence report seen by Garowe Online reveals, amid cracks within the group's top leadership.

Since February, the group's leader Ahmed Omar Diriye has been embroiled in a tussle with finance controller Mahad Karate, leading to dwindling fortunes in terms of resources mainly obtained through mafia-style taxation [Zakat] within Somalia.

Two months ago, Diriye expelled Karate and Bashir Qorgab from the group over "irreconcilable" differences. Intelligence reports indicated that the two had questioned attacks targeting civilians, a claim which Al-Shabaab would later dismiss as "baseless".

Even with the death of Bashir Qorgab in a US airstrike and Muse Moalim, the Amniyat commander in Mogadishu, Diriye, and Karate divisions seems to have escalated, leading to the current financial quagmire.

“In turn, Diriye has started a purge against Karate’s men and slowly exterminating his Habagedir-ayr clansmen and other perceived allies,” reads the report in part.

“In revenge, Karate is planning an onslaught against Diriye’s clansmen and the Rahawein who he believes are Diriye’s biggest strength," it adds, exposing further cracks in the Al-Qaida linked group.

To resuscitate their dwindling fortunes, the Al-Shabaab militants who have gone without pay for several months, have now shifted focus to Kenyan borders, where they are extorting locals through illegal taxation, stealing and assassinations.

In the last three months, over 16 terror attacks have been reported in Wajir, Garissa, Mandera, and Lamu, in which at least 23 people have been killed, a police report tabled early this month indicated.

But according to the intelligence reports, the Somalia-based militants have reconnected with their Kenyan counterparts, who are helping in the illegal taxation for their sustainability.

Those spearheading extortion rackets from the Kenyan side, and who are in police radar include Maalim Yusuf Hassan Abdullahi, Abdirashid Ibrahim, aka Osman Noor, Ahmed Dabar, Issack Okolla, and Mohamed Bilal Olow. They are believed to be operating in Garissa, Mandera and Wajir counties.

“So vicious are these extortionists that they have been planning to ambush anyone resisting the taxation, and they have exploited various methods at their disposal including laying improvised explosive devices, kidnapping for ransom and assassinating any dissenting voice hoping to instill more fear among the residents," says the report.

Maalim Yusuf Hassan Abdullahi, formerly a madrassa teacher in Konton, Wajir County, has been accused of recruiting children from the county to join Al-Shabaab, who are then sent to Jilib town for training.

Abdullahi, who operates in the areas of the Somalia town of Osqurun and Wajir East in Kenya, security reports indicate, was trained as a militia in various places within Somalia after which he was deployed back to Wajir to lead the racketeering.

At Wajir, the Al-Shabaab also deployed his suspected deputy Osman Noor, who used to run a mobile money outlet in Kotulo. Noor is said to have joined Al Shabaab in 2015 according to the intelligence reports.

The report says the two are also suspected to be working with another wanted Al-Shabaab member, Ahmed Dabar, who also left Wajir and joined the group in Somalia before returning.

Notably, the report says the men have turned against their clan in Kenya, whom they are now extorting on behalf of Al-Shabaab.

“They have been promised a handsome cut by their backers, the Marehan clansmen in Somalia, from the money they extort from the locals,” the report reads.

Worthy noting, it's in Wajir that the militants have been targeting security forces, particularly those working as National Police Reservists. For the better part of March and April, the NPRs had their houses torched in parts of Ijara.

The intelligence report further identifies another wanted Al-Shabaab suspect Sharif Linekulul from the Degodia clan who enforces illegal taxation. Members of this clan are found in the semi-autonomous state of Jubaland, northeastern Kenya, and southern Ethiopia.

Sharif Linekulul and his associates are said to keep part of the money while remitting the rest to Al Shabaab in Somalia. It's not clear on what method they are using to remit the funds across the border despite tight security.

One Isaack, alias Mohamed Intallo, alias Okolla, alias Issack Okolla, from Dabasiti, are leading the extortion web and are all on the loss of wanted terrorists, the report indicates.

In February 2018, the National Police Service launched a manhunt for Isaack Okolla for terrorizing northern Kenya and the coastal regions. The improvised explosive devices (IED) expert and his associates are deployed to extort from residents within the border areas of Kenya and Somalia.

Isaac Okolla is believed to be working closely with Luqman Abdullahi, from the Somali tribe known as Galjeel, and Jamah Nuh Abdille, from Puntland, notes the report, which could give a fresh perspective in Al-Shabaab war.

In areas bordering Garissa County, the extortion ring is led by a former madrassa teacher identified as Mohamed Bilal Olow, according to the report. Olow’s extortion ring targets areas in the expansive Fafi sub-county in Garissa County.

“He (Olow) carefully and tactfully avoids extending his operations to an area where his mother lives,” the report says.

This comes just days after another intelligence report linked Somalia's spy agency NISA to an unprecedented collaboration with the Al-Shabaab militants, whose intention is to sabotage KDF operations in Somalia.

NISA, the report said, has been sharing intelligence reports on movements of KDF troops in Somalia and those stationed within the border, with an aim of targeting them. The agency, it added, also finances Al-Shabaab militants.

But last week, Somalia's information department dismissed the report as "false propaganda" aiming at soiling NISA's reputation. The agency works under a rather divisive figure, one Fahad Yasin, a former Al-Jazeera journalist.

GAROWE ONLINE