re: #255 Dr Lizardo

That’s the sort of operational planning which is one of AQ’s hallmarks.

Al Shabaab is considered a terrorist group but they are functionally more of a militia. They really don’t have a whole lot of experience with an attack like this so I think it’s possible that Al Qaeda helped with operational details. I think the aspect of separating out the Muslims from the attack was probably al Shabab’s idea. Al Qaeda usually doesn’t bother with this but Al Shabaad, as a militia who occupies towns and cities, would consider this important to maintain support of the Muslim population in occupied territories. IIRC, the Islamists in Mali used similar tactics in hopes of maintaining popular support.