Speaking to Al Shabaab
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Here is a piece I did for the BBC about my communications with the Somali Islamist group, Al Shabaab. You can read my report for BBC Online by clicking here . And you can listen to my piece for BBC From Our Own Correspondent by clicking here . Here is the script for my report: Speaking to Al Shabaab The other morning I woke up to a text message and missed call from Al Shabaab. As always, the message was written in perfect English. It informed me about a film Al Shabaab have made called Beyond the Shadows which, it said, gave an ‘accurate portrayal’ of what happened when French commandoes last year tried – and failed – to rescue a suspected French intelligence agent held hostage by the group. I watched the film. Like some of the other material made by Al Shabaab's media arm, Al Kataib Foundation, it was slickly produced. It was like a cross between a video game and a war movie, and was full of suspense. It showed a drone hovering in the air, emblazoned with the words 'Eyes