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al-Shabab

A policeman wears a black uniform

After most recent attack, should US negotiate with al-Shabab?

Extremism

At least 26 people were killed in a weekend attack by al-Shabab, a group the US has been battling for decades.

Members of the al-Qaeda-linked militant group al-Shabab surrender to authorities in the north of Somalia's capital Mogadishu, Sept. 24, 2012.

Al-Shabab kidnaps Somali children to fill its ranks. Parents pull kids from school or flee to protect them.

Conflict & Justice
A US special forces soldier demonstrates how to detain a suspect during Flintlock 2014, a US-led international training mission for African militaries, in Diffa, Niger, March 4, 2014.

Niger raid highlights US military’s growing role in Africa

Conflict
Somali government forces evacuate an injured colleague from the scene of an explosion at Kilometer 4 street in the Hodan district of Mogadishu, Somalia, on Oct. 14, 2017.

A big truck bomb strikes outside a hotel in Somalia’s capital

Conflict
A Somali soldier patrols a street following a suicide car bomb and gun attack.

The death of a Navy SEAL reveals US mission creep in Somalia

Books
An internally displaced woman from drought-hit area at a makeshift settlement area in Dolow, Somalia, April 4, 2017.

Somalis walk for days searching for food and water while al-Shabab blocks aid

Conflict

Millions of Somalis are in crisis, facing a famine brought on by unforgiving drought and exacerbated by ongoing conflict between the government and militants.

A woman holding a rose prays during a Nairobi memorial vigil following an attack by gunmen at Kenya's Garissa University College.

Targeting the militants of al-Shabab with airstrikes is easier said than done

Conflict

Here’s why the ragtag al-Shabab fighters are so hard to vanquish

A Kenyan security officer searches a boy for weapons before an Easter Sunday service at a Catholic church in Garissa, Kenya, on April 5, 2015. Somali Kenyans fear a crackdown following a massacre at the Garissa Univeristy by Somali militants.

Somalis in Kenya brace for a backlash

Conflict

Somalis living in neighboring Kenya are bracing for the worst after the massacre at Garissa University carried out by al-Shabab. One Somali Kenyan says that while nothing has happened yet, history suggests that Somalis will be targeted by police and Kenyan citizens alike.

A Kenya Defense Force soldier runs for cover during al-Shabab's attack on a university compound in Garissa on April 2, 2015.

Al-Shabab are masters of terror — and masters of the media

Conflict

Extremists behind the siege at a university in Kenya boast a “pioneering” media strategy that has paved the way for other media-savvy terrorists like ISIS. But it’s still a chilling experience to get a call from al-Shabad amid a terror attack.

Abdirizak Bihi, who directs the Somali Education and Social Advocacy Center in Minnesota, testifies at a congressional hearing on radicalization in Washington. Bihi's nephew left Minnesota to fight with al-Shabab in 2008.

In Minnesota, ISIS may be building on the recruiting networks once used by other terror groups

Conflict

This Somali American was devastated when his teenage nephew traveled from Minneapolis to Mogadishu to join the extremists of al-Shabab. Now ISIS seems to be using the same recruiting networks to lure American teens to Syria and Iraq.