ISIL, through its emissary – Hamil al-Bushra – has sent a public invitation to Abu Ubaidah to ally his terror outfit with ISIL. Bushra praised the mujahideen in Somalia and also urged them to conduct attacks inside Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania. Bushra even simplified the task for Abu Ubaidah by requesting him to issue his pledge of allegiance to ISIL through an audio recording that will be played via al Kataib – the official media wing of Al Shabaab.
Abu Ubeidah is a bonafide member of al Qaeda, and has made a pledge of allegiance to Ayman al Zawahiri. However, the message by al-Bushra seeks to widen the split within an already weakened al Shabaab, thus allowing the faction sympathetic to ISIL to purposefully influence the internal operations of the terror group with the intent of inclining the Somalia-based Sunni Jihadist group towards ISIL and away from Al Qaeda.
Al Shabaab is increasingly focusing its terrorist insurgency on Kenya as proved by its recent release of slick video, audio and print media which encourage Muslims in East Africa to subvert their home nations. Al Hijra (the Kenyan arm of al Shabaab) has sworn to cooperate with al Muhajiroun (the East African arm of al Qaeda) in fomenting and sustaining an Islamist insurgency in Kenya.
