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Arab fighters who wished to travel to Somalia posted several messages on Al Quimmah forum Thursday, asking Somali militants about ways to join their ranks.

“We want to join you and fight alongside you. This is our obligation and a religious duty towards you,” said a member of the forum using the name “Glory Seeker” in a message entitled “An appeal to Shabab al Mujahideen.”

The member also asked for directions about what was the best way to get to the Somali militants with minimal risk. “Please reply,” he said at the end of his message.

On May 7, members on al Falojah forum had discussed joining the militants in Somalia. Many inquired about ways to get to Somalia and join the militant groups there. They were directed towards the website, Al Qimmah, which is run by Somali militants.

On May 12, a leading figure Shabab al Mujaheddin group, Sheikh Hussein Ali Fidow, told a press conference that foreign fighters from across the Muslim world were flocking to Somalia to give support to their Somali brothers.

The leader of al Qaeda in Iraq stressed on the need to acquire chemical, biological and even nuclear weapons, in order to compensate for the enemies’ superiority in conventional weapons. Abu Hamza al Muhajir comments came in an audio interview released on the Internet Monday.

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A new study on “maritime jihad” was recently published on the website of the “Global Campaign For Combating Aggression”. The study, entitled “Maritime Jihad: Its Importance, Rewards, and Advantages,” is the work of a 40-year-old Syrian Islamic law professor called Muslim al Yucef.

Al Yucef argues that jihad at sea is by far more likeable for God than jihad over land and submitted 14 different instances to prove his point. He used some of Prophet Mohammed’s sayings and other religious texts to prove that waging jihad at sea is ten times better than jihad over land and that those killed while fighting jihad at sea get a double reward compared to those who fight on dry land. He also says those who fight at sea get a status equivalent to those who fought alongside the prophet.

“When a mujahid at sea sets foot on a boat, he leaves all his sins behind his back,” notes al Yucef. “And when he steps off the boat, he is cleansed of sins like the day he was born, and god smiles at him,” he adds.

Al Yucef is a lawyer by profession, and has a Ph.D. in “Comparative Fiqh Between Shari’a and Secular Law”. He worked as a professor in Economics and Islamic Banking at the British Saint Clements University in Aleppo and holds a number of positions in International organizations and NGOs.

The study, which was conducted in October 2008, was not widely circulated on militant Islamist websites.

A militant Islamist Pashto video entitled “Punishing the Transgressors” was released on several websites Friday by a Taliban media outlet called Neda al Jihad. The one-hour video includes speeches by Afghan Jihadi leaders such as Taliban leader Sheikh Mohammed Yassir and Doust Mohammed, a Nuristan commander.

Although the video includes some previously unseen footage, it appears to be an old tape as Taliban’s former information minister Mohammed Yassir was apparently still in Afghan custody when his statement was filmed.

He was released along with four other Taliban leaders in exchange for the release of an Italian reporter that the Taliban captured in 2007. There was also footage from a video released last year showing a U.S. foot patrol ambushed by Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.

The video also includes footage from a training camp, and from a religious school attended by the some militants. It also showed an attack on a military outpost along with aftermath pictures showing some weapons, food and drinks left behind by fleeing troops.

The video closes with pictures of some of the “martyrs” without giving explanation how they were killed. Some of them looked as young as 9 or 10 years old.

A coalition of four Iraqi insurgent groups reassured in an audio statement released to mark the seventh anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq the decline in the number of insurgent attacks was not a sign that they were giving up.

The increase and decrease of operations is something that is subject to the tactics and evaluation of the group,” the voice on the tape said. “Jihad has not stopped for a single moment,” the voice claimed.

The four groups, the Jihad and Change Front, the Army of the Mujahideen, the Iraqi Jihadi Brigades, and the Army of al Fateheen, pledged to continue their fight against U.S. forces until the last U.S. soldier is out of Iraq.

The Mujahedeen group in Bangladesh released a four-part propagandist video under the title of “Worship God and Avoid Evil.”

The released version is an English translation of a previous release in Bengali. The release coincides with the international media’s attention being focused on the mutiny staged by the Bengali paramilitary border guards, in which 74 civilians and army officers were killed.

The Media Jihad Brigade posted a statement on a militant Islamist Internet website containing details of the alleged losses of the U.S. army in Iraq between April 2005 and December 2008.

The statement claims that 7323 Hummers, 1506 armored vehicles, 1260 minesweepers and 480 tanks have been destroyed. It also claims that the U.S. army lost 129 helicopters, 101 drones and one F16 plane during that period.
The same organization claims that over 10 thousand U.S. soldiers have been killed between July 2006 and December 2008.

Iraqi insurgent groups have often exaggerated the number of casualties and damage caused by their attacks for propaganda reasons. Several groups, as well as sympathizers with insurgents, had issued similar statements in the past.

Senior al Qaeda leader Abu Yehya al Libi, called the newly-elected Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed “a traitor and a conspirator” and urged militants to attacks his regime. The statement came, in a new video tape released by al Qaeda’s media wing As Sahab on a number of militant Islamist Internet forums Friday.

“The enemies of Islam wanted you to approve the establishment of a secular state that they decorated with the appointment of a traitor and an conspirator from those who altered what’s best with what’s worst,” al Libi said, adding that the new Somali government was nothing but another example of the U.S.-made administration model applied in Afghanistan. He compared the new Somali president to Afghani President Hamid Karzai and referred to Washington’s approval of the new president as evidence of him being a traitor.

Al Libi also hailed the Islamist militants’ “victory” over Ethiopian forces in Somalia and told them they’ve achieved such victory through their jihad and sacrifices and not through the United Nations or any other foreign intervention.

The Libyan al-Qaeda ideologue told jihadi leaders in Somalia not to drift from their initial ultimate goal, which is the establishment of an Islamic State governed by Islamic law. He stressed that they have to continue the fight until this goal is achieved.

Al Libi also called for attacks against peacekeeping forces present in Somalia, arguing that they constitute an occupation force that is just as bad as any other western occupation. “Continue to wage your campaigns against the Ugandan forces that are occupying your land and make them taste what you already inflicted upon the Crusader-Ethiopian forces. Kill them wherever you find them.”

By urging a fight against the new Somali government, al Libi silenced jihadi voices who called for “giving a chance” to the former militant leader of the Islamic Courts Union. Shortly after Sheikh Ahmad’s nomination, four Somali factions, including the militant Shabab al Mujahideen movement, announced the formation of a common front to fight Ahmad’s regime under the name of “The Islamic Party.” Other factions however were more indecisive with some voicing support to Sheikh Ahmad such as, including Jamaat al Sunna wal Jamaa, the Islamic Courts Union and the Muslim Brotherhood.

This is the second video appearance by al Libi this week and the fourth in 2009. Earlier in January, he issued a message where calling for attacks on Britain and other Western countries. Last week he appeared along with other top al-Qaeda leaders in a video tape paying homage to slain al Qaeda commander, Abu Laith al Libi.

Children as young as four or five years old were shown undergoing military training in a new video released by the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU), a militant Uzbek group based in Pakistan’s tribal area.

The 30-minute tape contains old and new footage showing children between four and 12 years old attending a religious school and undergoing military training, which included general fitness training, boxing, wrestling and weapons training. It also featured a graduation ceremony for two students who were seen awarded a white turban, seemingly a sign that they’ve become qualified “mujaheddin.”

The video is part of a series that the group calls “Badr Attawheed” and is entitled “Madrassas.”

The IJU was founded by fighters from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan in 2002 in Pakistan’s Tribal Areas. In 2005, it got closer to al-Qaeda and began plotting terror attacks in Pakistan. Based in Mirali in South Waziristan, the IJU is known for attracting Western recruits, mainly from Turkey, Turkish communities in Western Europe, but also Muslim converts from Europe.

A heated online debate was launched today about the future of jihad in Iraq on the “Hanein” Internet forums. It started when a member using the name Shemari posted a message entitled “are the mujahideen close to laying down the arms in Iraq?” The user argued that there were a lot of inactions suggesting that jihad in Iraq is coming to an end. He mentioned the inter-fighting amongst the militants, the growing strength of the awakening councils, the army, and the police, the running out of weapons, and the Iraqi people’s rejection of the jihadi movements. “I think jihad in Iraq will be coming to an end within a year or a year and a half,” Shemari predicted.

Other members disagreed and assured that as long as there are people like “Abu Omar al Baghdadi”, the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, and “Abu Hamza al Muhajir,” al Qaeda in Iraq’s leader, jihad will always be there.

Another member partially agreed with Shemari, but predicted that things might just be turned around after the U.S. forces withdraw from Iraq. “What you said is true, on the ground, but things could rotate 180 degrees when the Americans pullout or if the expected internal fights (amongst Iraqi parties) begin to emerge,” said a user with the name “Spot of Light.”