From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Thu Jul 15 2010 - 09:50:34 EDT
Shabaab leader says Uganda bombings 'just the beginning'
Posted Thursday, July 15 2010 at 13:15
MOGADISHU, July 15, 2010
The leader of Somalia's Al-Qaeda-inspired Shabaab group, which claimed
responsibility for deadly attacks in Uganda, thanked the bombers Thursday
and warned that more operations were to come.
"What happened in Kampala is just the beginning," Mohamed Abdi Godane, also
known as Abu Zubayr, said in an audio message broadcast on several Mogadishu
radio stations.
At least 73 people were killed in bomb explosions targeting two Kampala
entertainment spots where crowds of people had gathered to watch the
football World Cup final on July 11.
The region's deadliest attacks since the 1998 bombings of the US embassies
in Kenya and Tanzania were claimed by the Shabaab in retaliation for the
presence of Ugandan troops in an African Union force in Somalia (AMISOM).
"We are telling all Muslims and particularly the people of Mogadishu that
those martyred in AMISOM shelling will be avenged," Godane said.
He said the Kampala attacks, apparently the Somali insurgent group's first
such operation abroad, were carried out by a unit called the Saleh Nabhan
Brigade.
"We would like to congratulate the Martyr Saleh Nabhan Brigade who
gratefully fulfilled the mission Allah honoured them with," Godane said.
Nabhan was a Kenyan-born Al-Qaeda operative who was wanted in connection
with deadly 2002 attacks against Israeli targets in the Kenyan coastal city
of Mombasa.
He was believed to have taken on a senior role within the Shabaab by the
time he was killed in September 2009 in a reported US air raid near the
southern Somali town of Barawe.
The Shabaab, whose leadership earlier this year proclaimed allegiance to
Osama bin Laden, have come under the increasing influence of foreigners over
the past two years and Somalia has become a magnet for jihadis worldwide.
Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni vowed Wednesday to "eliminate" the Somali
masterminds behind the Kampala bombings, as officials said that a suicide
bomber carried out at least one of the attacks in Kampala.
----[This List to be used for Eritrea Related News Only]----