Incident Summary:
06/01/2007: Four Somali Police officers were wounded when an unknown number of Mujahedin Youth Movement perpetrators landed by boat at the remote northern fishing village of Bargal, Puntland State, Somalia and fired on Somali Police Police officers with small arms before fleeing into nearby mountains. Police in Bargal contacted Combined Task Force 150 and requested naval artillery support. At least eight of the perpetrators were killed in the subsequent counterattack, and one American, one Swedish, one British, one Eritrean, one Yemeni, one Pakistani, one Moroccan, and at least one other unspecified Middle Eastern passport were found among the bodies on 06/02/2007.
Overview
GTD ID:
200706010007
When:
2007-06-01
Country:
Somalia
Region:
Sub-Saharan Africa
Province/administrative
region/u.s. state:
Bari
City:
Bargal
What
Attack Information
| Type of Attack () |
Armed Assault |
| Successful Attack? () |
Yes |
Target Information ()
| Target Type: Police |
|---|
| Name of Entity |
Somali law enforcement |
| Specific Description |
Police officers in Bargal |
| Nationality of Target |
Somalia |
Additional Information
| Hostages |
No |
| Ransom |
No |
| Property Damage |
No |
How
Weapon Information
| Type |
Sub-type |
| Firearms |
Unknown Gun Type |
| Weapon Details |
|---|
| Small arms |
Additional Information
| Suicide Attack? | No |
| Part of Multiple Incident? | No |
| Criterion 1 () |
Yes |
| Criterion 2 () |
Yes |
| Criterion 3 () |
Yes |
| Doubt Terrorism Proper () |
No |
| Additional Information |
This may have represented an operational shift among Islamists from southern Somalia, where the provisional government declared victory in April 2007, to northern Somalia. The Mujahedin Youth Movement claimed credit for the attack but denied any casualties in a post to a jihadist website on June 4. |
Who
Perpetrator Group Information
| Group Name |
Group Sub-name |
Claimed Responsibility |
| Al-Shabaab (suspected) |
Mujahideen Youth Movement (MYM) |
Yes (Confirmed: Unknown; Mode: Posted to website, blog, etc.) |
Perpetrator Statistics
| Number of Perpetrators |
8 |
| Number of Captured Perpetrators |
Unknown |
Casualty Information
| Total Number of Casualties |
8 Fatalities / 4 Injured |
| Total Number of Fatalities |
8 |
| Number of U.S. Fatalities |
0 |
| Number of Perpetrator Fatalities |
8 |
| Total Number of Injured |
4 |
| Number of U.S. Injured |
0 |
| Number of Perpetrators Injured |
0 |
Sources
Sources
| Paul Salopek, “U.S. passport found among corpses of suspected militants in Somalia,” Chicago Tribune, June 2, 2007. |
| Mohamed Olad Hassan, “U.S. warship bombards remote Somali area overrun by Islamic militants,” Associated Press, June 2, 2007. |
| Shashank Bengali and Mahad Elmi, “American confirmed dead in Somalia missile attack,” Knight Ridder Washington Bureau, June 3, 2007. |
Criteria
Criteria 1
The act must be aimed at attaining a political, economic, religious, or social goal. In terms of economic goals, the exclusive pursuit of profit does not satisfy this criterion. It must involve the pursuit of more profound, systemic economic change.
Criterion 2
There must be evidence of an intention to coerce, intimidate, or convey some other message to a larger audience (or audiences) than the immediate victims. It is the act taken as a totality that is considered, irrespective if every individual involved in carrying out the act was aware of this intention. As long as any of the planners or decision-makers behind the attack intended to coerce, intimidate or publicize, the intentionality criterion is met.
Criterion 3
The action must be outside the context of legitimate warfare activities. That is, the act must be outside the parameters permitted by international humanitarian law (particularly the prohibition against deliberately targeting civilians or non-combatants.
Doubt Terrorism Proper
The existence of a "Yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper?" records reservation, in the eyes of GTD analysts, that the incident in question is truly terrorism. Such uncertainty, however, was not deemed to be sufficient to disqualify the incident from inclusion into the GTD. Furthermore, such a determination of doubt is subsequently coded by GTD analysts as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Alternate Designation
The determination of "yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper" by GTD analysts is coded as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Successful Attack
Success of a terrorist strike is defined according to the tangible effects of the attack. For example, in a typical successful bombing, the bomb detonates and destroys property and/or kills individuals, whereas an unsuccessful bombing is one in which the bomb is discovered and defused or detonates early and kills the perpetrators. Success is not judged in terms of the larger goals of the perpetrators. For example, a bomb that exploded in a building would be counted as a success even if it did not, for example, succeed in bringing the building down or inducing government repression.
Type of Attack
This field captures the general method of attack and often reflects the broad class of tactics used. It consists of the following nine categories:
- Assassination
- Armed Assault
- Unarmed Assault
- Bombing/Explosion
- Hijacking
- Hostage taking (Barricade Incident)
- Hostage taking (Kidnapping)
- Facility / Infrastructure Attack
- Unknown
Target Information
This field captures the general type of target. It consists of the following 22 categories:
- Abortion Related
- Airports & Airlines
- Business
- Government (General)
- Government (Diplomatic)
- Educational Institution
- Food or Water Supply
- Journalists & Media
- Maritime (includes Ports and Maritime facilities)
- Military
- NGO
- Other
- Police
- Private Citizens & Property
- Religious Figures/Institutions
- Telecommunication
- Terrorists
- Tourists
- Transportation (other than aviation)
- Unknown
- Utilities
- Violent Political Parties
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