Somalia's al Shabaab vows huge blast in Kenya

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Somalia's al Shabaab vows huge blast in Kenya

By Ismail Taxta and Abdi Sheikh | Reuters – 34 minutes ago

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somalia's al Shabaab rebels called on Thursday for

supporters in Kenya to carry out a major strike in retaliation for a 12-day

military incursion by east Africa's powerhouse.

Kenya has sent soldiers and heavy weapons into southern Somalia to crush the al

Qaeda-linked militants Nairobi blames for a string of kidnappings on Kenyan soil

and frequent border incursions.

Kenyan units have advanced on several fronts with Somali government troops and

allied militias toward al Shabaab strongholds and a fighter jet bombed its port

city of Kismayu on Sunday.

" The time to ask Kenya to stop war has passed. The only option is to fight them.

Kenya, you have started the war and so you have to face the consequences, "

Sheikh Muktar Robow Abu Mansoor, a top al Shabaab official, told a

demonstration.

Kenyan military spokesman Emmanuel Chirchir told Reuters their forces clashed

with al Shabaab fighters in southern Somalia, east of a town called Tabda, on

Thursday and two wounded soldiers had been evacuated.

" There was action today between al Shabaab and our forces. We managed to kill

nine al Shabaab, " he said.

An al Shabaab spokesman, Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, told Reuters his fighters

had ambushed four Kenyan military vehicles near Tabda. He did not give details

of any casualties.

The al Shabaab official urged sympathizers in Kenya to shun the grenade attacks

that hit the capital Nairobi on Monday, killing one person and wounding 29.

Police said on Thursday that all but six of the victims had now returned home.

" The Kenyan Mujahideen who were trained by Osama in Afghanistan, stop throwing

grenades at buses. We need a huge blow against Kenya. Hand grenades hurled can

harm them but we want huge blasts, " he told hundreds of people gathered in

Elasha, near Mogadishu.

Residents said al Shabaab had ordered them on Wednesday to close businesses and

attend the anti-Kenyan rallies.

The two grenade attacks on a bar and a bus terminus in downtown Nairobi have

spooked Kenyans and security has been beefed up in the capital at hotels,

government buildings, restaurants, bars and shopping malls.

The blasts came two days after the U.S. embassy warned of an imminent attack. A

Kenyan man has pleaded guilty to one of the attacks and being a member of al

Shabaab.

MORE GRENADE ARRESTS

Kenya's Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere said two more people had been arrested

over the attacks and were due to appear in court this week. He said the man who

pleaded guilty went to Somalia in February and returned to Kenya in August.

The United Nations has warned that hundreds of Kenyan Muslims have been

recruited by al Shabaab and that youth organizations have raised funds for the

Somali militants.

A U.N. Monitoring Group report on Somalia published in July said al Shabaab had

extensive funding, recruiting and training networks within Kenya.

Al Shabaab has yet to carry out a major strike in Kenya but has used suicide

bombers to devastating effect in Somalia and Uganda -- whose troops are fighting

the rebels in Mogadishu as part of an African Union force.

Twin suicide blasts in Kampala killed 79 people watching the soccer World Cup

final last year and a truck bomb in Mogadishu killed more than 70 people earlier

this month.

Gunmen also attacked a vehicle in northeastern Kenya on Thursday not far from

the Somalia border, killing four government employees and wounding two guards,

officials said.

Northeastern Provincial Commissioner Ole Serian told Reuters the attackers

were being pursued and another official said there were reports they were

heading toward Somalia.

NO TALKS WITH SHABAAB

Kenya's southern neighbor Tanzania also issued a terrorism alert late on

Wednesday following the Nairobi attacks.

" We have received threats, " Manumba, director of criminal investigations,

told state TV. " Experience shows us that terrorism is an international crime.

The al Shabaab group is composed of members from all east African countries. "

Al Qaeda struck Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, killing hundreds of people in

suicide bombings of the U.S. embassies there.

A diplomatic row between Somalia and Kenya over the incursion appeared to have

been resolved. Somalia's president had cast doubt on the government's support

for the Kenyan incursion on Monday.

But on Wednesday, the Somali government said while it had not agreed for Kenyan

troops to cross the border, the prime minister would head a new committee to

liaise with Nairobi.

" We support Kenya's operation inside Somalia because they support, train and

provide other military support to our troops to defeat al Shabaab and we are

very grateful to Kenya, " Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali told Reuters in an

interview.

" But we have to understand one thing: Somalia has the lead, our military has the

lead in all operations taking place inside Somalia, " he said late on Wednesday.

The semi-autonomous northern Somali region of Puntland also said on Thursday it

supported the Kenyan incursion.

Kenya has long watched its anarchic neighbor warily and its troops have made

forays across the porous border with Somalia in the past, but this month's

assault marks the first concerted push to drive the rebels away from the

frontier.

Kenyan government spokesman Mutua stressed Kenya had no intention of occupying

southern Somalia and would return once it had dismantled al Shabaab's networks.

He also said Kenya would not negotiate with the militants.

(Additional reporting by Sahra Abdi, Mohamed Ahmed, Ibrahim Mohamed and Feisal

in Mogadishu; Noor Ali in Isiolo and Daud Yussuf in Garissa, Beatrice

Gachenge, Maasho, Duncan Miriri and Obulutsa in Nairobi; Fumbuka

Ng'wanakilala in Dar es Salaam; Writing by e; Editing by Giles

Elgood)