Shahada News Agency (, ) is an

news agency A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and All-news radio, radio and News broadcasting, television Broadcasting, broadcasters. A news agency ma ...

of the militant organization Al-Shabaab and is used as the main disseminator for news in

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as well as English translations relating to attacks done by al-Shabaab and other operations including

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History

Shahada News Agency traces its origins to the initial Al-Shabaab's daily news reports and translations through the

Al-Qaeda , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...

affiliated Global Islamic Media Front platform, which used to publish daily reports starting from 2008. The first recorded report from Shahada News Agency was in 2013 and it rose to prominence in 2015 by releasing information on attacks and ambushes as well as news in Al-Shabaab controlled territory. The agency would upload and share what it calls "exclusive" news of Al-Shabaab through its website and social media platforms. It’s format is similar to that of the

Amaq News Agency Amaq News Agency () is a news outlet linked to the Islamic State (IS). Amaq is often the "first point of publication for claims of responsibility" for terrorist attacks in Western countries by the Islamic State. In March 2019, Amaq News Agency w ...

run by Islamic State. Besides Al-Shabaab's media foundation for video production, Al-Kataib, Shahada News Agency is considered one of Al-Shabaab's propaganda news units with them launching accounts on

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(now X),

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and attempts to compete against news aggregators associated with the

Islamic State The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS ...

in the regional area of Al-Shabaab. They also utilize the dark net and onion services to release news. Shahada News Agency expanded their news reach further after an announcement on July 9, 2024, that it would start creating accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Telegram, and continue to work on platforms like the encrypted invite-only platform RocketChat and newly-formed Chirpwire. Through Telegram, the Shahada News Agency would create Telegram

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that would give updates on posts and news on Al-Shabaab and international relations. In 2020, the United States through the

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officially recognized Shahada News Agency as Al-Shabaab's news network, and an alias of Al-Shabaab.

References

{{Jihadist media 2010s establishments 2010s establishments in Somalia 2013 establishments in Africa 2013 establishments in Somalia Al-Qaeda Al-Shabaab (militant group) Al-Shabaab (militant group) activities Arabic-language mass media English-language mass media News agencies based in Somalia News agencies News aggregators