Ras Kamboni brigades and the Raskamboni movement

In short

Two different armed bodies have carried the Ras Kamboni name. The first, the Ras Kamboni brigades, was an Islamist force led by Hassan Abdullah Hersi al-Turki. The second, the Raskamboni movement, grew from part of it under Ahmed Madobe, turned against al-Shabaab, allied with Kenya and became the base of Jubaland State. Wikipedia records that the Raskamboni movement drew its support mainly from the Ogaden clan of the Juba valley (Wikipedia, Ras Kamboni Movement).

The Ras Kamboni brigades

Hassan Abdullah Hersi al-Turki was a leader of al-Itihaad al-Islamiya; the US designated him in June 2004 (Wikipedia, Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya, citing the US State Department). His force, based at Ras Kamboni in the far south, was one of four groups that formed Hizbul Islam in January 2009 (Wikipedia, Hizbul Islam). Wikipedia lists the Somali Patriotic Movement among its predecessors in the area (Wikipedia, Somali Patriotic Movement).

The split of 2009–2010

From 1 October 2009 Hizbul Islam and al-Shabaab fought for Kismayo. Al-Shabaab won and expelled the Ras Kamboni fighters, and in November 2009 the faction led by Ahmed Madobe withdrew from Lower Juba. In February 2010 al-Turki's branch announced it was merging with al-Shabaab (Wikipedia, Ras Kamboni Movement; Long War Journal, February 2010). Stanford's Mapping Militants project records the same division: one faction merged into al-Shabaab in 2010, the rest allied with Kenya (Mapping Militant Organizations, al-Shabaab).

The Raskamboni movement under Ahmed Madobe

Wikipedia dates the Raskamboni movement from 7 October 2009, with Ahmed Madobe as chairman and Maalim Mohamud as deputy, and estimates it at under 1,000 fighters in 2010. After Hizbul Islam was absorbed into al-Shabaab in December 2010, it allied with Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a and the Transitional Federal Government (Wikipedia, Ras Kamboni Movement). See Ahmed Madobe.

With Kenya: Dhobley and Kismayo

• 3 April 2011. With government forces and the Kenyan air force, it took Dhobley near the Kenyan border from al-Shabaab (same source, citing Hiiraan Online).
• October 2011. Kenya sent its army into southern Somalia (Council on Foreign Relations, Al-Shabaab backgrounder).
• 28 September 2012. Kenyan troops landed on the beach at Kismayo (The Guardian, 28 September 2012). With the Somali army, AU troops and Raskamboni fighters, they took the city, al-Shabaab's main port and source of revenue (CFR).

Jubaland and Kismayo after 2012

Ahmed Madobe became interim leader of the Jubaland administration in 2012 and was chosen president in 2013 (Nation, 7 September 2025). In February 2014, after security chief Isse Kamboni was shot dead on 19 February, Raskamboni forces carried out a search operation in Kismayo; more than 150 civilians were detained and seven civilian deaths were reported (same source, citing Keydmedia).

In late November and December 2024, after Madobe's re-election, Jubaland and federal forces clashed at Ras Kamboni; some federal troops were captured and others crossed into Kenya (Daisy Muibu and Yayedior Mbengue, CTC Sentinel, May 2025).

Read the primary sources yourself

• The Guardian, "Kenyan troops launch beach assault on Somali city of Kismayo" (2012): article.
• Matthew J. Thomas, "Exposing and exploiting weaknesses in the merger of al-Qaeda and al-Shabaab", Small Wars and Insurgencies 24:3 (2013): article.