Al-Shabaab
Al-Shabaab emerged in mid-2006 as a splinter group from the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) movement in Somalia. Though the reasons for the split were not clear, Al-Shabaab was generally seen as more extreme and occasionally described as the hard-line wing of the ICU. As the name suggests, many Al-Shabaab members are young men in their 20s. The group was initially led by Aden Hashi Ayro, who was killed on May 1, 2008, by a U.S. airstrike. He was briefly succeeded by Sheikh Mukhtar Robow...