Patrick Mayoyo
12 December 2010
Nairobi — Americans are among thousands of foreign fighters recruited by Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terror group for terrorism training in the war-torn Somalia, a new diplomatic cable released by whistle-blowing website Wikileaks reveals.
The cable dated August 26, 2009, and dispatched by US ambassador Michael Ranneberger says foreign fighters operating in Somalia include North Americans, Kenyans, Sudanese, Pakistanis, Yemenis and other unidentified nationalities and Arabs.
"Many of the foreign fighters currently operating in Somalia, particularly those who entered to fight the Ethiopians from 2006-2008, are ethnic Somalis, recruited from either neighbouring countries or Diasporas overseas and motivated in the past by a sense of Somali nationalism, jihadist propaganda, and the presence of foreign troops in the country," the cable says.
