A war that no one wants to acknowledge is raging hotter than ever. “Kenya mall attack group al-Shabaab threatens ‘long-lasting war, blood, destruction,'” by Alastair Jamieson and Mary Murray for NBC News, September 26 (thanks to Kenneth):
NAIROBI, Kenya – The leader of the al Qaeda-lined militant group behind the massacre of at least 72 people at a shopping mall has threatened Kenya with “long-lasting war, blood, destruction” over its peacekeeping role in neighboring Somalia.
Ahmed Godane, who is also known as Mukhtar Abu al-Zubayr, confirmed that his al Shabaab network was behind Saturday”s armed rampage and hostage siege at the Westgate complex in Nairobi, Reuters reported.
His threat, posted in an online message www.somalimemo.net late Wednesday, came as more burial services were held for victims of the attack.
Two of the funerals — one Hindu and the other Muslim — were expected to be held side-by-side Thursday, underlining the international nature of the atrocity.
Several Americans were injured in the attack, but U.S. intelligence officials have been unable to verify reports that U.S. citizens were among the perpetrators….
Meanwhile, Somalia’s defense minister said his government was struggling to fight al-Shabaab, and make an international plea for help in the form of weapons.
“We are not looking at jet fighters. It’s small arms,” Abdulhakim Haji Faqi told NBC News. “We need the funding and resources.”
He warned that the attack on the Westgate mall should be a wake-up call illustrating that Somalia-based terror organization al Shabaab was now a “global problem.”
“We need to defeat them ideologically and militarily,” Faqi said. “If we had more weapons, they would be less of a problem by now. … The way to help is to fund the Somali government.”…
The only way to defeat them ideologically will be to confront and refute their Qur’anic exegesis. This is a battle that everyone assumes has long ago been won, but which has actually hardly ever been attempted.