A team operating in the cyberspace to provide intelligence about terrorist’s activities inside high dimension communication networks (HDCN) noted the emergence of the term Inghimasi in propaganda published by Al-Hijra, an offshoot of the Harakat Shabaab Mujahideen (HSM) terrorist group in Somalia. This was during the period of early July 2018. The term, previously popular with the Islamic States (ISIS) was what Istishhadi was to Shabaab Mujahideen, it means, “those who submerse in enemy’s line with no intent to come back or simply “suicide bombers”; and that is what caught our attention, ‘the Inghimasi’.
- The strategic logic of suicide bombing is specifically designed (by terrorists) to coerce modern liberal democracies to make significant territorial concessions. The cumulative knowledge generated by scholarly research on suicide bombing is yet to find out what motivates and qualifies cohorts to become Istishhadi or Inghimasi or just a suicide bomber. Both ISIS and Al-Shabaab employ suicide bombing in support of specific ends. We reviewed some of the most prolific attacks in East Africa to establish a relationship between suicide bombers, psychological disorders, and relative evidence of cohorts being related with targets. For example Anwar Yogan Mwok, the suicide bomber who detonated a suicide vehicle borne improvised explosive device (SVBIED) outside a Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) Forward Operating Base (FOB) at Kolbiyow, a frontier outpost, was a Kenyan who once wanted to join the army, held an anti-establishment political view, was born in a poor family, a footballer, businessman, and youth leader. He died aged 36. Mwok’s age is an interesting metric when querying Inghimasi qualifications.
- Who’ll be a Marty? Mwok at 36 failed to rise in Shabaab Mujahideen rank and file. At this age, he is not useful as fighter if he hasn’t attained a commander level. Mwok had also lost his businesses and properties in Kenya to Government hence was a poor man. With his criminal nature exposed to both public and family, Mwok could not return to Kenya or travel elsewhere. This makes him hopeless and desperate, 2 factors that acerbate depression. When combined with his hatred for the army and the government that rejected and impoverished him, Mwok becomes the perfect candidate for suicide terrorism (hatred to his perceived oppressors).
- Depressed, Duped, then Sent to Die in the name of Allah and Jihad. Suicide is motivated by depression and other factors such as hopelessness and lack of purpose in life, betrayal, hatred, and lack of opportunities. However, given its being one of the most severe human behaviors, Strategic Intelligence focus was to identify the underlying psychological mechanisms and processes that may lead to suicidal ideation and behavior and how terrorist recruiters are able to identify such cohorts after bringing them in.
- The Inghimasi Katiba. Previously referenced as Istishhadi (Arabic for martyrdom seeker) by the Al-Qaeda branch in Somalia, Inghimasi Katiba is the best-trained and best-equipped Al-Shabaab Mujahideen katiba’s (brigades). The word Inghimasi comes from the Arabic word Inghamasa meaning “to plunge” or “become immersed. Inghimasi means a “suicide fighter” or “those who submerse in enemy’s line with no intent to come back alive.”
Inghimasi often wear explosive belts alongside regular weapons in order to inflict as much damage as possible on their specific targets. Inghimasi attacks are complex due to the small number of terrorists deployed and involved, this make it significantly more difficult for intelligence and security agencies to disrupt the attacks. In Somalia, they are equipped with advanced versions of the Russian assault riffle Kalashnikov and dressed with army uniforms that resemble the Somali Army (the optics in play here are meant to portray these mentally sick youths as the true soldiers of Somalia, its meant to inspire altruism in them though they die painfully).Despite the lofty titles and their meanings, there’s no evidence of the fabled Inghimasi or Istishhadi ever coercing any of the modern liberal democracies to make significant territorial concessions in fact, terror groups continue to be suppressed and destroyed. The youths who die in those suicide missions are were just used in a complex web of politico-religious games whose score hardly counts. Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia has braved these hapless and psychologically sick suicidal elements of the terror group.
