First HD video released by Al-Shabaab reveals details about the failed French raid

By Harar24′s Editorials team

In a slick new documentary style video released by the Al-Shabaab movement divulging the grueling details about the botched French special forces raid on Bulomarer early last year, according to militants narrative.

The 36-minutes long video titled “Beyond the shadows: The failed French raid” comes with English subtitles and features high end graphics, including 3D animated scenes. The video outlines all the events leading up to the special forces raid in January 2013 on the small town of Bulomarer in the Lower Shabelle province, and the eventual execution of the French agent Dennis Allex after the rescue mission failed.

The city of Bulo-Marer where the failed French raid took place

The story is narrated by an alleged spy, Mohamed Geelle Abdulle, who was also eventually executed by Al-Shabaab in Barawe. According to him in his own words: “About three months after we left Marka and came to Bulomarer, I was contacted by Mudane (a Somali intelligence officer). He asked me about the situation of the town and whether I had any information regarding the Mujahideen’s leaders or the French captive”. This is how is his story of working for the French DGSE began, in order to free Denis Allex, which ended up costing him his life.

The alleged spy behind the French operation Mohamed Abdulle Geelle

According to Geelle’s narration, he brought a French-Djibouti agent to the house where Denis Allex was being held captive three times, and eventually ended up leading the special forces to the house on foot. According to the video Geelle was working on the mission in cooperation with another “agent” known as Arabey, whom the militants claim now lives as a “fugitive” in Nairobi.

The 2nd alleged spy “Arabey”

The film brings to light details of the butchering of four members of a Somali family, whom the French special forces killed on their way to rescue Daniel Alex. According to the brother of one of the victim’s featured in the video, Abdullah Hussein Rage, he arrived at the scene and found his brother dead: “My brother’s name is Abdirahman Hussein, but is more commonly known by the nickname “Shukow”. One bullet hit him in the face and gouged his eyes out and the other bullet hit him in the heart. His wife was also hit with two bullets; one in the head and the other in heart”.

An orphan boy who’s family were alleged killed by the French commandos

According to the Al-Shabaab narrative, the Islamist fighters withstood the attack by the French forces three times using their PKM-machine guns, as one of their fighters from that night featured in the video boasted: “All praise is due to Allah for he has indeed blessed our PKM machine guns”. The video puts the Al-Shabaab fighters death toll at one, with the killed fighter being Al-Shabaab’s appointed governor for Bulomarer.

One of theAl-Shabaab fighters from that night

Al-Shabaab had not provided any evidence that Denis Allex had been executed during the night of the raid, despite claiming that they did, with French officials also conceding that he had been killed. For the first time since that night, the video features the dead body of Denis Allex with a bloodied face, whom the group claims they executed.

This latest film by Al-Shabaab is the first to shed some light on the events which occurred that night in Bulomarer, with the French government withholding much of the details that night. Many analysts believe that one of the many purposes of the release of this film is to demonstrate the militants preparation to repel sudden attacks by Western special forces, who operate under the cover the night.

“The failure of the French special forces raid has boosted the morale of the Al-Shabaab fighters, and now firmly believe they can withstand highly trained Western special forces” said a security analyst speaking to Harar24. “With such a morale boost it came as no surprise that the militant group was again able to withstand another special  force raid in Barawe, eight months from the French raid, though this time with the attackers being from the US Navy SEAL Team 6, who took out Osama bin Laden” he added.

Others however believe that the purpose of videos like this is to incite youth in the West to the jihadist cause, and this more so given the fact that the video is aimed at an English speaking audience, with a professional crisp and clean look to appeal to youngsters, thousand of whom already flocked to different jihadist arenas, largely due to videos similar to this.