MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) – The defections of two American Islamic extremist fighters in Somalia highlight tensions within the insurgent group al-Shabab over whether it should remain affiliated to al-Qaida or switch allegiance to the Islamic State group, according to an al-Shabab commander.
Foreign fighters are being alienated and feel trapped in Somalia over suspicions that they are plotting to switch allegiance to the Islamic State group fighting in Syria and Iraq, Abu Mohammed, a military commander with Al-Shabab told The Associated Press Tuesday. The “ambitions” by some foreign fighters in al-Shabab to join the Islamic State group had led to them to be isolated within the Somali group and even face death at the hands of their erstwhile comrades-in-arms.
One American who had been fighting with al-Shabab left the rebels and was arrested by Somalia’s security forces on Monday. Abdimalik Jones, who said he is from San Diego, was arrested in the southern port of Barawe, said African Union spokesman Col. Paul Njuguna.
Jones claimed he fled al-Shabab because of rifts within the group, said an official with Somali security forces who insisted on anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press. Jones is missing the index finger of his right hand, said the official.
A second American, a Minnesota man named Mohamed Abdullahi Hassan, who joined al-Shabab in Somalia more than seven years ago, surrendered to Somalia’s federal government on Nov. 6, the U.S. State Department said in an email to The Associated Press. It’s not immediately clear why his arrest wasn’t announced earlier.