Recently in Kenya Category

Another bright idea from the boobs at al-Shabaab. "Attack claims 2 Kenyan soldiers, 11 Shabaab," by Bernard Momanyi for Capital FM, January 23:

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 23 – Two Kenyan soldiers were killed in Somalia on Sunday in a major attack that also left 11 Al Shabaab militants dead.

Military Spokesman Emmanuel Chirchir said a Transitional Federal Government (TFG) soldier was also killed in the air strike.

“Yesterday at around 2300hrs KDF/TFG conducted a raid on an Al Shabaab camp where 11 were killed,” the army spokesman said adding “out of the raid KDF unfortunately lost two of its personnel while TFG lost one.”

Chirchir said several arms were recovered from the slain Al Shabaab militants.

On Saturday, Cyrus Oguna of the Defence Forces said the militia had resorted to using women wearing bras fitted with explosives to further their cause.

Oguna said that the militia was getting desperate and had started using unconventional means to strike back at the Kenyan army.

He added that the outlawed group was also using propaganda, such as killing civilians and claiming they are KDF officials, as their new weapon.

“We are all aware that Al Shabaab for a long time prohibited women from wearing bras.

The phenomenon that is emerging now is that Al-Shabaab is using these women who are in their ranks and supplying them with bras that are fitted with explosives and this is something that is critical even to homeland security,” he explained.

He said that they were also dressing up as civilians in a bid to fool both the Somali people and the Kenya Defence Forces.

“They now dress like herders and in one incident, they fired at our troops and our troops fired back and they complained that we were firing at civilians,” he observed.

“They are trying to make us look bad by trying to engage non combatants. However, Al Shabaab dressing like me at one minute does not make him a civilian when he dresses otherwise the next minute,” he pointed out....

Just days ago, we noted how consistent and formulaic jihadist rhetoric is from place to place, almost to the point where one could program a Jihadist Hate Screed Generator and kick back with a cup of tea while giving a hearty takbir or three that there's an app for that. Choose your language, select your infidel, "set it and forget it!"

Clearly, the generator has a few kinks to work out, but it appears to be up and running in Kenya. "Kenya Islamic group claims ties to al-Shabab," by Katharine Houreld for the Associated Press, January 14:

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — An increasingly vocal Islamist group says its leader has been appointed to represent an al-Qaida-linked Somali militia in Kenya, a development that underscores the dangers Kenya faces from Somalia's insurgency.

The statement by the Kenya-based Muslim Youth Center came amid a flurry of warnings from embassies about planned terror attacks in Kenya. The Somali militant group al-Shabab has promised to attack Kenya for its decision to send troops to Somalia in October.

Al-Shabaab also means "the youth," though there has been some discussion of re-branding.

The Muslim Youth Center was named in a United Nations report last year for recruiting, fundraising, and running training and orientation events for al-Shabab. An official al-Shabab spokesman did not answer questions about whether the center now represents al-Shabab in Kenya, but a statement published on the center's blog on Wednesday was unequivocal.

"There can be no doubt that Amiir Ahmad Iman Ali's elevation to become the supreme Amiir of Kenya for al Shabaab is recognition from our Somali brothers who have fought tirelessly against the kuffar on the importance of the Kenyan mujahideen in Somalia," the statement said. The word kuffar appears to be an alternative spelling of kafir, an Arabic word meaning "unbeliever."

Yes.

Ali was featured in combat fatigues giving a 50-minute lecture in a Jan. 6 video produced by al-Kataib, al-Shabab's media foundation. He referred to wars in Yemen, Afghanistan, Iraq and Chechnya. It was the first time an al-Kataib video was dedicated solely to his message, according to SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors communications from jihadi groups.

And if you can't be with the one you hate, honey, hate the one you're with:

"If you are unable to reach the land of jihad ... then raise your sword against the enemy that is closest to you," Ali said. "Jihad should be now be waged inside Kenya, which is legally a war zone."

"You don't have to get permission from your parents," he added.

There are several ahadith where aspiring jihadists are told to consult their parents, but jihad is called obligatory on all believers (fard ayn) because the unbelievers have entered a Muslim land (never mind who fired the first shot...).

Al-Shabab threatened huge terror attacks in Kenya in October after Kenyan troops entered Somalia over concerns that insecurity from Somalia's 21-year-old civil war was spilling over the border. The U.S. Embassy has put extra security measures into place and last week the British Embassy warned that a terror attack was being planned.

Ali, also known as Abdul Fatah of Kismayo, is a Kenyan who has been based in Somalia since 2009 and commands a force of 200 to 500 fighters, according to the July U.N. report. The report said that "he now intends to conduct large-scale attacks in Kenya, and possibly elsewhere in East Africa."

Ali speaks fluent Swahili, English, Arabic and some Somali, according to a security official in Kenya. He has also studied Islamic teachings extensively and has two degrees. The official asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The official said that Ali wanted to be seen as Kenya's answer to Anwar Al-Awlaki, an American cleric killed in Yemen last year by a U.S. missile strike.

A post on the group's website purporting to be from Ali complained about impunity for Kenyan army officers who have killed Muslims, set up arbitrary police detentions and renditions — complaints also voiced by Kenyan and international human rights groups.

But Ali also warned in a statement rife with spelling errors: "The Muslim lands will once again rule with Shari'ah and your kufr democracy will be dumped in the seewage."...

"Al-Shabab is trying to obtain security guard uniforms they can wear while carrying out an attack."

"Kenya on edge as terror attack threat looms," by Jason Strasziuso for the Associated Press, January 10:

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The security bulletins warning of an impending assault by terrorists are rising in intensity as Kenya's capital increases security measures in hopes of preventing what would be the first massive attack here since the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombing.

The U.S. Embassy this week put out new rules prohibiting visitors from bringing electronics or laptop computers into the compound. Shopping malls are installing new security rules. And a new, high-end hotel has shuttered its underground parking garage.

Al-Shabab, Somalia's al-Qaida-linked militant group, has repeatedly promised to attack Kenya in retaliation for Kenyan forces moving into southern Somalia in October. The group's spokesman threatened to bring Nairobi's skyscrapers down, and though an attack of that magnitude appears unlikely, intelligence officials fear some attack is imminent.

One Western diplomat told The Associated Press that recent intelligence reports show that al-Shabab is trying to obtain security guard uniforms they can wear while carrying out an attack, a common tactic used by militants in Afghanistan. The diplomat spoke on condition he was not identified discussing sensitive intelligence matters.

One analyst said he is surprised large-scale attacks haven't happened already.

"I don't think it's going to be grenade attacks. It's going to be a massive truck bomb, simultaneous attacks. This is a signature of al-Shabab and al-Qaida," said Rashid Abdi, a former Somalia analyst with the International Crisis Group who is setting up an independent policy forum. "I think they want to make a huge statement." Al-Shabab carried out simultaneous bombings in Kampala, Uganda last year as the World Cup final played on TV. Those attacks killed 76 people. Uganda contributes troops to the African Union force that is fighting al-Shabab.

Last weekend Britain's Foreign Office warned that terrorists may be "in the final stages of planning attacks," and Kenyan authorities said they had thwarted attempted attacks by al-Shabab over the holidays. A new al-Shabab video posted last week shows a militant named Ahmad Iman Ali urging Muslims in Kenya to wage jihad. The U.S. Embassy this week set its new security rules. Guards have been issued new instructions to "stop and diligently screen" all vehicles with diplomatic plates on them, according to a security directive obtained by The Associated Press.

In 1998, a truck bomb that was parked outside the U.S. Embassy in downtown Nairobi killed more than 200 people. A simultaneous explosion detonated in Tanzania's capital. In total 224 people died, mostly Kenyans, but also including 12 Americans.

On Tuesday a text message circulated widely in Nairobi saying that the U.N. had issued a bomb threat alert for Tuesday night. Kenyan police held a news conference to deny that the text message was real. Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said police are monitoring dozens people in Kenya who have been in contact with al-Shabab, and "10 among them are considered lethal."

Kiraithe also said there has been a spike of Westerners who sympathize with al-Shabab flying into Kenya with the intention crossing over to Somalia to fight for the group. In the last two weeks seven people from Western countries, including the U.S. and UK, have been arrested and deported after trying to make contact with al-Shabab, he said....

It's been done. Al-Shabaab's appropriately named spokesman, Sheikh Rage, threatened in October that the jihadists would destroy Kenya's skyscrapers and tourism industry.

"Al-Shabaab propaganda video declares Jihad against Kenya," by Patrick Mayoyo for The Nation, January 9 (thanks to Zulu):

Al-Shabaab has released a propaganda video declaring war against Kenya.

The video was released by Sheikh Ahmed Iman Ali, the self-proclaimed de facto leader of Kenyan Al-Shabaab fighters in Somalia.

Sheikh Ali in the video recording entitled: If they seek your help in religion, it is your duty to help them, says war or Jihad should now be waged in Kenya in response to the military operation in Somalia.

The title quotes Qur'an 8:72: "Verily, those who believed, and emigrated and strove hard and fought with their property and their lives in the Cause of Allah as well as those who gave (them) asylum and help, - these are (all) allies to one another. And as to those who believed but did not emigrate (to you O Muhammad), you owe no duty of protection to them until they emigrate but if they seek your help in religion, it is your duty to help them except against a people with whom you have a treaty of mutual alliance, and Allah is the All-Seer of what you do."

“Kenya has declared war against Somalia and Jihad should now be waged inside Kenya which is legally a war zone,” Sheikh Ali says in the video.

The video which was initially posted on YouTube but has since been withdrawn can still be viewed on other social media networks.

He says the war Kenya is fighting in Somalia is not against Al-Qaeda, Al-Shabaab or terrorists but the terms are being used to camouflage the truth.

The report of the UN Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group indicates that Sheikh Ali, a former chairman of Muslim Youth Centre in Pumwani, Nairobi, was central in the recruitment of non-Somalis in Nairobi to join Al- Shabaab fighters in Somalia.

The report says Al-Shabaab “has extensive funding, recruiting and training networks within Kenya” and has “established connections with jihadist groups across the continent.”

The UN investigation that focused on the youth centre claims that the organisation was involved in the recruitment of Al-Shabaab operatives. Officials of MYC have since distanced themselves from Sheikh Ali and the recruitment of Kenyans to join Al-Shabaab.

“Officially, the MYC Constitution defines the group as a ‘community based-organisation’ that aims to provide youth with religious counselling ... In practice, members of the group openly engage in recruiting for Al-Shabaab in Kenya,” the report claims.

“Ahmed Iman’s success in recruiting fighters and mobilising funds for the cause, appear to have earned him steady ascendancy within Al-Shabaab. The Monitoring Group believes that he now intends to conduct large-scale attacks in Kenya.

The worst thing Somalia's al-Shabaab can threaten Kenya with is to turn Kenya into Somalia. Jihad causes poverty. "Kenya forces say they thwarted holiday terror plot," by Tom Odula for the Associated Press, January 7:

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenyan authorities said Saturday that they had thwarted attempted attacks by an al-Qaida-linked Somali militant group over Christmas and the New Year, as Britain warned its citizens over looming terror threats in Kenya.

Col. Cyrus Oguna, a Kenyan military spokesman, said officials received intelligence from credible sources that the Somali militant group al-Shabab was planning an attack over Christmas and New Year. He said Kenyan troops in Somalia made pre-emptive strikes on different targets in Somalia based on that information.

"We carried out pre-emptive strikes and disruptive strikes in Somalia and police secured things here at home and as a result of that we were able to have peaceful Christmas and New Year festivities," he said.

Britain's Foreign Office urged Britons in Kenya to be extra vigilant, warning that terrorists there may be "in the final stages of planning attacks."

Oguna said Kenyan police on Dec. 31 killed three suspected al-Shabab militants caught trying to sneak into the country to disrupt New Year celebrations. Three suspects were arrested. He said the six men were seen by Kenya's navy in Kenyan territory in two skiffs on the Dec 30. They abandoned the skiffs and hid among mangrove trees, Oguna said, but locals alerted police of their presence.

Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said the men were armed with six AK-47 rifles and more than 500 bullets.

Kenyan troops entered Somalia in mid-October to attack the militants, and have been supported by the country's weak army.

Oguna said that they will continue to put pressure on al-Shabab and that at least 60 militants were killed in airstrikes on Garbaharey town, an al-Shabab base, on Friday.

Kenya blames al-Shabab for a string of kidnappings on Kenyan soil, including those of four Europeans. The kidnappings threatened Kenya's tourism industry, a key source of revenue for the country. Al-Shabab, Somalia's most dangerous militant group, is waging an insurgency against Somalia's weak, U.N.-backed government.

Ethiopian troops recently entered Somalia on the country's west, and they along with African Union troops in Mogadishu are squeezing al-Shabab fighters on three sides.

The group has said it will carry out suicide bombings in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, in retaliation for Kenya's military incursion. Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the July 2010 suicide attacks in Kampala, Uganda which killed 76 people watching the World Cup final.

Britain's Foreign Office ministry said in a travel advisory issued Saturday that attacks could be indiscriminate and could target places where expatriates and foreign travelers gather, including hotels, shopping centers and beaches.

Meanwhile, Kenyan police say they want to apprehend British national Natalie Faye Webb, who is believed to have links to al-Shabab. A Kenyan court issued a warrant of her arrest on Wednesday. Kiraithe did not give details on why she is wanted by the police.

The court also issued an arrest warrant for Kenyan national Habib Saleh Gani.

Once again this seems to be the work of Islamic jihadists, bringing their beautiful vision of a world free of intoxicants to the people of Garissa. "Five dead in Kenya New Year blast," from AFP, January 1:

GARISSA, Kenya — Five people were killed in a New Year's Eve hand grenade attack and shooting in a bar in the eastern Kenyan town of Garissa near the border with Somalia, police said Sunday.

It marked the latest in a series of such attacks since Nairobi sent troops into Somalia to fight the Islamist Shebab.

"There was an explosion in a club in town shortly before midnight (Saturday) and five people died," a senior police officer at Northeast provincial headquarters told AFP.

"After the explosion in the club there was shooting outside and people were running all over. It appears they targeted New Year celebrations," the officer added, asking not to be named.

Regional police chief Leo Nyongesa told AFP: "We are investigating. We are looking for the attackers."

Residents voiced fears that the attackers might have been Somali Shebab insurgents or their sympathisers, intent on creating a divide between Christians and Muslims in the region.....

DUBAI: Being gay in the Middle East is taboo. Crackdowns in Arab countries against homosexuals is common and swift, with many countries employing the death penalty against convicted homosexuals.

Now, a new report published by Identity, a gay magazine in Kenya, reveals that gay Kenyan men are being trafficked into the Gulf as sex slaves for the wealthy.

The report alleges that gay and bisexual men are lured from university campuses – particularly from Kenyatta University – with promises of high-paying jobs and then transported to labor as sex workers for men in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

According to the magazine, due to Kenya’s soaring unemployment rate, the men are easily fooled into this trap.

The publication interviewed one Kenyan victim who was promised a job in Qatar but ended up suffering sexual abuse.

Qatar specifically, has no laws against human trafficking, which has made cracking down on the practice nearly impossible.

“Qatar is a transit and destination country for men and women subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor and, to a much lesser extent, forced prostitution,” the US State Department stated in a recent report.

“Men and women from Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Sudan, Thailand, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and China voluntarily travel to Qatar as laborers and domestic servants, but some subsequently face conditions indicative of involuntary servitude. These conditions include threats of serious physical or financial harm; job switching; the withholding of pay; charging workers for benefits for which the employer is responsible; restrictions on freedom of movement, including the confiscation of passports and travel documents and the withholding of exit permits; arbitrary detention; threats of legal action and deportation; false charges; and physical, mental, and sexual abuse.”

In the Emirates, while being openly gay is illegal, the community has blossomed in recent years. Mark, a gay Canadian man, told Bikyamasr.com that “the community has increased dramatically and people are more willing, and accepting, of the LGBT community here.”

But he said the report that Kenyan men are being used as sex slaves is “not surprising.”

“We have seen a lot of the elite and super wealthy want to be gay, but that would go against their traditions, so instead they often marry and then hire or do this kind of thing, to have their real desires met. It is a problem of society not opening up to the gay lifestyle and forcing it to the background,” he argued.

Of course, none of this has anything to do with how al-Shabaab has been behaving. They were just going along, minding their business, waging jihad to impose Sharia while linking up with al-Qaeda and abducting aid workers from Kenya, and someone so rudely decided to resist. Someone they can't starve into submission.

"Somali militant bashes Kenya-Israel security pact," by Abdi Guled for the Associated Press, November 15:

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — A spokesman for the Somali militant group al-Shabab said Tuesday that Kenya's prime minister recently visited Israel to seek assistance in "destroying Muslim people and their religion."

Sheik Ali Mohamud Rage also warned Kenya that it still has a chance to withdraw its forces from neighboring Somalia because "things have not begun in earnest," a likely reference to threats to carry out terror attacks in Nairobi, Kenya's capital.

The office of Kenya's prime minister said Monday that Kenya received the backing of Israeli leaders to help Kenya fight what it called "fundamentalist elements." Kenyan Prime Minster Raila Odinga visited Israel Sunday and Monday and sought help building the capacity of his country's security forces.

Kenyan troops last month moved into Somalia to fight al-Shabab militants who in return promised reprisal terror attacks in Nairobi.

"We tell Kenya that things have not began in earnest yet and it is now a month on. You still have a chance to go back to your border," Rage said.

Kenya said in a statement that Israeli President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised the East African nation help in securing its borders with Somalia.

A statement from the Odinga's office said Netanyahu promised to help build "a coalition against fundamentalism," bringing together the countries Kenya, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Tanzania. Kenya said that Peres said Israel was ready to make "everything available to Kenya" for internal security.

The Israeli government did not confirm any of statements made by Odinga's office. Israel said the meetings were a continuation of the deepening of Israel's relations with African countries.

Israeli security forces are among the best in the world in dealing with terror threats, making it logical for Kenya to seek security assistance. But al-Shabab could view Kenya's request as a provocation.

Attempting to manage jihadist terrorism by trying to predict and avoid "provocations" would result in paralysis. In practice, it would ultimately amount to surrender.

In 2002 militants bombed an Israeli-owned luxury hotel on Kenya's coast near the city of Mombasa, killing 13 people. The militants also tried to shoot down an Israeli airliner at the same time.

See? Muslims are the new Jews, and those who resist jihad are just like Nazis. You remember all those Jewish grenade attacks on German churches in the 1930s, don't you?

The attempt to portray Muslims as innocent victims of bigotry and hatred depends upon popular ignorance of the extent of Islamic jihad activity. That's why this site exists: to help remedy that ignorance. And that's why this site drives those who aid and abet the global jihad and Islamic supremacism -- especially those who do so by billowing out fogs of disinformation and misinformation about "Islamophobia" and the evil Nazis persecuting poor innocent Muslims -- absolutely up the wall. (Good morning, Ibe!)

"2 Die in Grenade Attack at Kenya Church," from the Associated Press, November 6 (thanks to Bill):

WAJIR, Kenya (AP) — Two people were killed in a suspected al-Shabab attack at a church in an eastern Kenyan town, a police official said Sunday.

Kenyan police chief Leo Nyongesa said that a woman and her two grandchildren were also injured when attackers hurled a grenade at the Pentecostal Church in Garissa late Saturday.

Ibrahim Makunyi, the head pastor at the church, said the house near the entrance of the church that belonged to a church elder had been bombed.

"One of the dead is a member of the choir, and the other is the son of the church elder," he said.

Witness Mary Nginya said that after the explosion she heard attackers say "It is just the beginning," in Swahili....

Oh, I am sure that is true. Not that the world will note that fact with any solicitude for the victims or measures directed toward preventing future jihad attacks.

That's pretty much the plan anyway, isn't it? Until worship is for Allah alone (Qur'an 2:193, 8:39)? An update on this story. "Somali rebels say will subject Kenya to 'endless war'," from Agence France-Presse, November 4:

Somalia's Shebab rebels said Thursday they were building defences that would plunge Kenyan forces battling them into an "endless war."

As Kenyan forces prepared to assault rebel position after moving into Shebab-controlled southern Somalia last month, army spokesman Major Emmanuel Chirchir warned militants were moving weapons by air and donkeys.

Let it be known henceforth as Ass Jihad.

"The Shebab mujahideen will defend Somalia, and will put Kenya into an endless war," the Al-Qaeda-linked rebels said in statement.

And by our asses, we will be victorious -- no, don't say that on the radio, Sheikh Rage.

"We will defeat you like the other major countries that have suffered when they attacked Somalia, you will see the consequences."

Since Somalia spiralled into civil war in 1991, several foreign armies -- including US forces, UN peacekeepers and a 2006 Ethiopian invasion -- have failed to create stability in the anarchic nation.

Chirchir said that the rebels, who he claimed had received three planeloads of arms this week, were now transporting the weapons on donkeys.

"Information reaching us confirms that Al Shebab has resorted to using donkeys to transport their weapons," Chirchir said in a statement.

"Thus, any large concentration and movement of loaded donkeys will be considered as Al Shebab activity."

Kenya has warned residents in 10 southern Somali towns to leave Shebab-held areas ahead of an imminent attack, and on Wednesday sunk a small boat off the southern Somali coast carrying 18 men it said were Shebab fighters.

"The Kenya Navy intercepted the skiff and sunk it killing all the militants," Chirchir added.

The militants however dismissed the reported air deliveries as an excuse by Kenya to legitimise civilian deaths ahead of the expected assault.

"This is cheap propaganda to legalise the indiscriminate killing of Somalis," the Shebab statement added, posted in Somali on an Islamist website.

Kenya has said it will probe reports of civilian deaths when its warplanes struck the rebel-held town of Jilib at the weekend, where aid agency Doctors Without Borders said five civilians were killed.

The jihadists who could care less about inflicting civilian casualties suddenly decide they have a problem with civilian casualties, at least some of the time:

Rebels however said they feared that there could be more civilian deaths when Kenya ramps up its military attacks on its positions.

Claiming victim status:

"This is a plan to carry out collective punishment against the Muslim people of Somalia... the killing of civilians at Jilib by Kenya is clear testimony of this," the Shebab statement added.

Suspicion has fallen on Eritrea. It would not be the first time Eritrea has been accused of supporting the Somali jihadists, even provoking U.N. sanctions. "Kenya claims Somali rebels receive third weapons airdrop," from Agence France-Presse, November 2:

Kenya said Wednesday that Somali Islamist rebels had received a third planeload of armaments, as its forces prepare to push forward against the Al-Qaeda-linked militants in the war-torn nation.

Kenyan soldiers and tanks pushed into Shebab-controlled southern Somalia some two weeks ago to fight the insurgents and curtail their ability to launch cross-border attacks.

"We've had a positive confirmation that there was another landing of another aircraft with weapons," army spokesman Emmanuel Chirchir said. The reports could not be independently verified.

Two aircraft landed Tuesday delivering ammunition and weapons to the extremist Shebab, Chirchir said, adding he would not comment on where the weapons were coming from.

"We are concentrating on how to disarm the enemy," he said.

Eritrea has been accused of supplying arms by air and sea to the Shebab rebels, but Asmara has repeatedly denied all claims.

"These claims are pure fabrications ... Eritrea has not sent any arms to Somalia," the Eritrean foreign ministry said in a statement Wednesday.

"Eritrea's sole interest in Somalia is to see peace and stability return."

Perhaps seeking human shields, and the propaganda potential of elevated civilian casualties, the cowards of al-Shabaab have made themselves the arbiters of other people's "martyrdom." "Somalis brace for Kenyan air assault," by Abdi Sheikh and Sahra Abdi for the Associated Press, November 2:

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somalia braced for Kenyan air attacks on Wednesday and Islamist militants stopped civilians from fleeing at least one likely strike zone.

Kenya, which sent troops into lawless Somalia nearly three weeks ago to crush the al Shabaab militant network, said on Tuesday it planned "imminent" air raids on militant bases and warned residents to stay clear of them.

Kenya's warning of air bombardments was prompted by reports the al Qaeda-linked militants had received two consignments of weapons, flown into the rebel-controlled town of Baidoa.

Eritrea dismissed media reports it had delivered the arms cache as "outright lies" meant to dirty its reputation.

Some 24 hours after Kenya gave its warning, there were no raids reported in the ten rebel strongholds where it had advised civilians to stay clear of insurgent bases.

"(Al Shabaab) ordered us to stay and die at the hands of Christian Kenya, to dwell in paradise," Abdikadir Weydow, a resident of the southern town of Afmadow, told Reuters.

Afmadow, a rebel bastion and strategic transit point for contraband smuggled through rebel-controlled Kismayu port, is seen as a likely flashpoint for a confrontation between Kenyan forces and al Shabaab militants.

Kenyan and Somali government troops, as well as militia nominally allied to Somalia's government, have set up forward positions close to Afmadow.

In many other towns, including Baardheere, Baidoa and Afgoye, many people were preparing to escape, hoping to lie low in the bush or reach the Kenyan frontier.

It speaks volumes about the situation that Somalis are fleeing toward the country dropping the bombs.

"We are determined to flee to the jungle. We cannot stay in a town which is to be bombed," said Baardheere resident Yusuf Guled.

Others, too poor to afford the transport or encumbered by elderly relatives, were hunkering down in anticipation of an aerial assault.

Kenya's army spokesman Emmanuel Chirchir told Reuters on Tuesday its forces would not target civilians, but warned they needed to stay away from rebel bases to avoid being caught up in the fighting....

A far cry from al-Shabaab, which freely targets civilians.

Covering their bases: in the midst of their saber-rattling about spectacular attacks inside Kenya, they are also trying to make arrangements for a hudna. "Official: Al-Shabaab leaders contact Kenyan government to negotiate," by David McKenzie for CNN, October 27:

Nairobi, Kenya (CNN) -- Conflicting accounts emerged Thursday over whether the extremist group Al-Shabaab has signaled a desire to negotiate with Kenya amid a Kenyan military offensive targeting the group.

"They want to talk," said a Kenyan official who did not want to be named because he is not authorized to talk to the media.

A spokesman for the Kenyan government, however, disputed that account and said Kenya wouldn't talk with Al-Shabaab even if the group did want to negotiate.

"Al-Shabaab has not contacted Kenya in any way," said the spokesman, Alfred Mutua. "There are no plans whatsoever for Kenya to negotiate with Al-Shabaab. Kenya does not negotiate with outlawed groups."

He said Kenyan troops have enjoyed success since crossing the border into Somalia to pursue Al-Shabaab, which the United States and several Western nations view as a terrorist organization.

"They are running scared. I think they are busy running for their lives," Mutua said. "They don't have time to talk."

Kenyan troops struck several Al-Shabaab training sites in Somalia early Thursday, a military spokesman said. The militant group, which includes many rival factions with different leaders, operates from Somalia.

The group's leaders were said to be reaching out for possible negotiations two weeks after Kenyan troops stormed into Somalia to hunt for Al-Shabaab, which Kenya blames for recent kidnappings of foreigners in the nation.

But Sheikh Mukhtar Robow Ali, Al-Shabaab's second-in-command who is also known as Abu Mansur, told supporters protesting in Mogadishu against the Kenyan incursion that if Kenya struck targets in Somalia, the militant group would strike back.

Kenya has said its forces aim to take the Somali port city of Kismayo, described by the United Nations as a key stronghold and source of cash for Al-Shabaab. The United Nations estimates the group collects up to $50 million a year from businesses in Kismayo, about half of its annual income.

Robow urged what he said were Al-Shabaab-trained fighters in Kenya to take action in return, with the Kenyan port of Mombasa a target.

''Carry out attacks with heavy losses on Kenya," Robow said. "If Kenya closes the sea port in Kismayo, attack its banks, its port, its foreign guests and wherever there is a high-value target."...

"Stop throwing grenades at buses," they said. "We need a huge blow against Kenya."

Everyone's a critic. More on this story. "Somalia's al Shabaab vows huge blast in Kenya," by Ismail Taxta and Abdi Sheikh for Reuters, October 27:

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somalia's al Shabaab rebels called 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.

An al Shabaab spokesman, Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, told Reuters his fighters had struck four Kenyan military vehicles near a town called Tabdo inside Somalia Thursday.

General Yusuf Hussein Dhumaal, the head of Somali troops in the area, denied there had been any ambush or fighting. Kenyan government spokesman Alfred Mutua declined to comment.

The al Shabaab official urged sympathizers in Kenya to shun the grenade attacks that hit the capital Nairobi Monday, killing one person and wounding 29. Police said 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.

Jihad causes poverty:

Residents said al Shabaab had ordered them 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.

All of these measures are costly, and a drain on resources. Even if al-Shabaab does not get a truck bomb into position, it has had an impact.

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.

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.

Unknown gunmen also attacked a vehicle in northeastern Kenya Thursday killing at least four government employees, local officials told Reuters. Media reports said they were targeted with rocket-propelled grenades and gunfire.

Iteere said the vehicle transporting papers for school exams was attacked about 110 km (70 miles) from the northeastern town of Mandera, which is on the border with Ethiopia and Somalia.

Al-Shabaab may also decide Dar-es-Salaam is Dar al-Harb:

Kenya's southern neighbor Tanzania also issued a terrorism alert late Wednesday following the Nairobi attacks....

The good news is that Kenya apprehended this bomber. The bad news is that this pair of somewhat amateurish, opportunistic free-lance jihadist attacks is almost certain not to be al-Shabaab's main event in Kenya. Al-Shabaab has actually denied any connection to these attacks, which fall outside of its recent tendencies toward suicide attacks, and the group has specifically threatened Kenya with suicide bombings.

An update on this story. "Kenyan pleads guilty to grenade attack, being Shebab," from Agence France-Presse, October 26:

A Kenyan man plead guilty Wednesday to involvement in a grenade attack in Nairobi and being a member of the Al-Qaeda linked Somali Shebab militant group. Police arrested Elgiva Bwire Oliacha Tuesday in a Nairobi district and seized a cache of weapons including several grenades, ammunition and guns, after two grenade attacks shocked Kenya's capital.

On Monday, one person was killed in a grenade attack at a Nairobi bus stop hours after several others were wounded when a grenade was detonated in a bar.

Bwire, aged 28 and from western Kenya, admitted guilt in court only to involvement in Monday night's grenade attack at a bus station, as well as to possession of unlicensed weapons.

His case is due to be heard again on Friday, and he could face up to 15 years in prison.

Despite Bwire's guilty plea, Shebab leaders continue to deny responsibility for the attacks, which wounded more than two dozen people.

Kenyan police have in the past been accused of using "violence and torture during interrogations," according to US State Department reports.

Police have come under intense pressure to step up security following threats of retaliation by Shebab insurgents after Kenya's military launched an assault against the rebels in the south of war-torn Somalia....

This attack on a bus stop, and a grenade thrown into a nightclub, follow threats from al-Shabaab in response to a Kenyan military operation (rumored to have Western support) in southern Somalia, which was launched after cross-border kidnappings on Kenyan territory.

The U.S. embassy in Nairobi warned Saturday of an "imminent" threat of attacks on Nairobi, but neither of these are al-Shabaab's main event. The group has increasingly turned to suicide bombings in recent weeks, and these smaller attacks only leave Kenyans to wonder when or if the other shoe is going to drop as the Somali jihadists seek to become "victorious with terror" (Sahih Bukhari 4.52.220).

"Kenya: Second explosion in Nairobi," from BBC News, October 24:

A blast has gone off at a bus stop in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, killing at least one person, police say.

An earlier grenade attack on a bar in the city wounded 12 people.

The attacks happened two days after the US embassy in Kenya warned that an attack by Islamist militants from neighbouring Somalia was imminent.

But Kenyan Police Commissioner Matthew Iteere said there was no evidence linking the nightclub attack to the militants from the al-Shabab group.

The Kenyan government sent troops to Somalia more than a week ago to pursue the militants after accusing them of being behind a spate of abductions on its territory.

Al-Shabab, which is linked to al-Qaeda and controls much of southern and central Somalia, denies involvement in the kidnappings but has warned of reprisals if Kenyan troops do not withdraw from Somalia.

There is also the possibility that these acts are copycat attacks, possibly by sympathizers within Kenya who want in on the action.

Police said the explosion on Monday evening occurred at the OTC bus terminal in downtown Nairobi, which is usually a busy part of the city.

Kenya's Red Cross said on its Twitter feed that eight casualties had been rushed to Kenyatta National Hospital.

In the early hours of Monday morning a man threw a grenade into the Mwauras nightclub and fled the scene, witnesses said. No-one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The BBC's Will Ross in Nairobi says last December three people died during a grenade attack at a bus in Nairobi. It was never clear who was behind it.

Our correspondent adds that although both attacks were small, they will nevertheless cause a great deal of anxiety in Kenya.

A jihadist walked into a bar, and... More on this story. Grenade attack on Nairobi bar injures 14," from AFP, October 24 (thanks to Twostellas):

A grenade thrown into on a bar in the Kenyan capital Nairobi has wounded 14 people, all Kenyans, in an attack police linked to recent threats made by Somali Al-Shebab insurgents.

"We are linking the grenade attack to the threats that have been issued by Shebab, and that is why I am appealing to city residents to be vigilant and cooperate with our officers," said Nairobi police chief Antony Kibuchi.

The US embassy in Nairobi had warned on Saturday of an "imminent threat" of attacks possibly targeting foreigners, one week after Kenyan forces crossed into Somalia to hunt down al-Qaeda-linked Shebab fighters.

The embassy cited "credible information of an imminent threat of terrorist attacks directed at prominent Kenyan facilities and areas where foreigners are known to congregate, such as malls and night clubs"....

The Kenyan military is reported to be advancing toward Kismayo, accompanied by aerial bombardment of the city. With or without international assistance to the Kenyan military, al-Shabaab seems at last to have bitten off more than it can chew with its recent cross-border kidnappings.

"Kenya Says Western Nations Join Fight in Somalia, as U.S. Denies Role," by Josh Kron and Jeffrey Gettleman for the New York Times, October 23:

NAIROBI, Kenya — Foreign military forces have joined the offensive against the Shabab militant group in Somalia as Kenyan troops advanced toward the rebel stronghold of Kismayu from two different directions, Kenya said Sunday.

A Kenyan military spokesman, Maj. Emmanuel Chirchir, said that “one of the partners,” possibly the United States or France, had been behind airstrikes in the past few days, killing a number of Shabab militants. The French Navy has also shelled rebel positions from the sea, the Kenyan military said in a statement.

There is also a psychological element to this announcement, of course. Al-Shabaab may have surmised by now that it is in much more trouble than usual. A report like this leaves the group to wonder how much.

Two senior American officials in Washington said Sunday that neither the United States military nor the Central Intelligence Agency had carried out airstrikes in Somalia in recent days. One of the officials, who follows American military operations closely, said the Kenyan offensive had forced many Shabab fighters and commanders to disperse, making them easier potential targets, but emphasized that there had been “no U.S. military strikes in Somalia at all recently.”

American officials in Kenya declined to comment. A French diplomat in the United States did not return phone calls.

If Western military powers have indeed joined the conflict, analysts said, it could represent a turning point against the Shabab, a ruthless militant group that has pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda. The group controls much of southern Somalia, though its young fighters and battered pickup trucks are deemed no match for a sophisticated army.

“Everybody is in theater,” Major Chirchir said in a telephone interview on Sunday. “We know about the strikes. They are complementary.”

The American military has previously conducted surgical strikes in Somalia, taking the opportunity to kill terrorism suspects and Shabab fighters who were on the run. In 2006 and 2007, the American military cooperated closely with a large Ethiopian force that stormed into Somalia to oust an Islamist movement that had taken control of much of the country.

About a week ago, Kenya sent hundreds of its soldiers into Somalia to battle the Shabab, whom the Kenyans blame for recent kidnappings in Kenya; many independent analysts, however, doubt the group had a role in the abductions. Kenya’s military says it plans to remain in Somalia until the Shabab’s capacity is “reduced” and Somalia’s weak, American-backed transitional government is able to function.

But Kenya’s military — especially compared with those of its neighbors, like Ethiopia, Uganda, Sudan and Somalia — has scant experience. Several military efforts over the past 20 years by other external powers, from the United States to the United Nations, have failed to deliver a sustainable government in Somalia.

Kenyan military officials say their plan is to squeeze the port of Kismayu, one of Somalia’s biggest towns and a major money-earner for the Shabab, from two sides in a pincer movement with troops massing to the west near Afmadow and to the south in Raas Kaambooni. Heavy rains, though, have literally bogged them down, and after an initial burst of activity, the Kenyan advance seems to have slowed.

Major Chirchir said the Kenyan Navy had also positioned ships along the coastline from the Kenyan border toward Kismayu.

“Any vessel that is there with a militia we will take it down,” he warned.

On Sunday, Kenyan officials said that a French naval ship had shelled the city of Koday, south of Kismayu, and that casualty figures were not yet available. The French military has also launched small, covert strikes in Somalia in the past, aimed at terrorism suspects and pirates.[...]

On Saturday, the American Embassy sent a text message to Americans in Kenya saying, “ the U.S. Embassy in Kenya has received credible information of an imminent threat of terrorist attacks directed at prominent Kenyan facilities and areas where foreigners are known to congregate, such as malls and nightclubs. Please exercise caution.” [...]

Early Monday, a grenade attack wounded 14 people in a bar in central Nairobi, the Kenyan police said, according to Reuters. No one was killed in the blast and no one claimed responsibility.

The jihadists from Somalia's Al-Shabaab have threatened Kenya: "your skyscrapers will be destroyed, your tourism will disappear." In other words, they are threatening to turn the place into Somalia. "U.S. embassy warns of imminent threat in Kenya," by Yara Bayoumy for Reuters, October 22:

NAIROBI (Reuters) - The U.S. embassy in Kenya warned of a threat to American citizens in the country after Nairobi launched a cross-border operation against Islamist militants in Somalia.

The embassy in a note to U.S. citizens living in or visiting Kenya said on Saturday that reprisal attacks could be directed at "prominent Kenyan facilities and areas where foreigners are known to congregate, such as malls and night clubs."

The statement said the embassy had taken measures to limit official U.S. government travel to Kenya.

Kenya launched its boldest incursion yet into its anarchic neighbor six days ago after a wave of kidnappings against foreigners that Nairobi has blamed on the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab militants.

The rebels have denied responsibility for the kidnappings and said Nairobi was using them as a pretext for an attack.

The rebels have warned Nairobi to withdraw from its southern strongholds or risk bringing the "flames of war" into Kenya.

The father of one says his son had been "'misled' into thinking he could fight a holy war." "Two Cardiff men, 18, held by Kenyan anti-terror police," from BBC News, October 18:

Two 18-year-old men from Cardiff are being questioned by anti-terrorism police in Kenya.

Authorities in Kenya say the pair were arrested while crossing the border into Somalia.

The father of one man, of Somali descent, said he had flown out to save his son who had been "misled" into thinking he could fight a holy war.

Kenyan police say were under investigation by the anti-terrorism unit and are expected to be deported.

The other man is also a UK citizen, who is of Pakistani descent according to police.

A joint statement from the Muslim community in Cardiff said they were thankful the two men were safe and well and they were anxiously awaiting their return.

The father of the Somali Briton told the BBC he travelled to Kenya after his son disappeared from the family home in Cardiff.

Abdirhman Haji Abdallah told the BBC Somali Service in an interview: "He was brainwashed and taken away from us and he was told that he was going to fight a holy war in Somalia. So I travelled to Nairobi in an effort to save him."

He alerted the High Commission in Nairobi as well as the Kenyan police and gave them a photograph of his son....

That, after all, is one reason al-Shabaab has tried to block Somalis from aid camps and push them back into the famine zone: to "protect" them from "Christian" influences. At least that is the official line, as the jihadists attempt to starve the population into submission by controlling access to aid.

But al-Shabaab's jihad against that supposed "threat" has not stopped at the border. Most recently, the group kidnapped two Spanish aid workers from Doctors Without Borders.

Al-Shabaab's Jihadists Without Borders expect respect for territorial integrity to be a one-way street. "Kenya helicopter crashes; push into Somalia begins," by Abi Guled and Katharine Houreld for the Associated Press, October 16:

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Kenyan military forces moved into southern Somalia on Sunday, an official and residents said, a day after top Kenyan defense officials said the country has the right to defend itself after a rash of militant kidnappings inside Kenya.

Late Sunday evening, a military helicopter crashed and caught fire inside Kenya from an apparent mechanical malfunction, a diplomat and a resident said. No civilian casualties were reported but the status of the pilots on board was not immediately known.

Residents in southern Somalia said that columns of Kenyan troops had moved in and that military aircraft were flying overhead. Resident Ali Nur Hussein said Kenyan troops arrived in tanks and military trucks, and that troops were coordinating with Somali government soldiers.

Kenya's government spokesman, Alfred Mutua, said Kenyan troops "are pursuing al-Shabab across the border." He did not give any other details.

In response, al-Shabab, Somalia's most dangerous militant group, tried to raise the alarm in areas it controls. Residents in the town of Qoqani who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals said militants were going into homes and forcibly recruiting new fighters.

"Are you ready to live under Christians?" one al-Shabab official shouted on a militant radio station. "Get out of your homes and defend your dignity and religion. Today is the day to defend against the enemy."

A Somali government spokesman, Abdirahman Omar Osman, said his government welcomes logistical support from "our Kenyan brothers," but said Somalia did not need Kenyan troops.

"Our forces are ready to combat al-Shabab and they are doing so effectively. They are ready at the borders, so sending troops is not needed," Osman said.

The helicopter crashed in Liboi, a town about 10 miles (20 kilometers) from the Kenya-Somalia border. The Liboi resident asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals. The diplomat's employer does not allow him to be identified.

Mutua and Kenya's military spokesmen did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Kenyan troops have frequently crossed the border into Somalia, but Sunday's push appears to be a bigger and more concerted effort. Minister of Internal Security George Saitoti told a news conference on Saturday that Kenyan forces would pursue al-Shabab into Somalia.

"For the first time our country is threatened with the most serious level of terrorism," he said.

The public declaration to attack al-Shabab came two days after armed militants kidnapped two Spanish aid workers with the group Doctors Without Borders from the Dadaab refugee camp, a sprawling expanse of temporary homes where almost 500,000 Somalis live. The population of Dadaab, the world's largest refugee camp, has swelled by tens of thousands in recent months because of Somalia's famine.

On Oct. 1, Somali gunmen took a wheelchair-bound Frenchwoman from her home near the resort town of Lamu. Somalis also abducted a British woman from a Kenyan coastal resort in September. Her husband was killed in the attack.

Kenya's push north into Somalia will open another front that Somali militants must contend with. African Union forces from Uganda and Burundi have expanded their control of Mogadishu in recent months and have almost completely forced al-Shabab out of the capital.

Writing Allah's name on a shower stall: haram. Smashing glasses and beer bottles and menacing people over Allah's name being written on a hotel shower stall: halal. "Lamu Muslims Up in Arms Over Hotel Shower Graffiti," from the Nairobi Star, October 10 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

There was drama on Lamu island after hundreds of Muslim faithfuls stormed a hotel protesting against Islamic inscriptions in a swimming pool shower stall. The angry youths led by sheikhs, imams and civic leaders claimed the inscription was offensive because their religion does not allow 'Allahu' (God) to be written where people are naked.

They then moved to Petlizz bar where they overturned chairs and smashed glasses and beer bottles while calling for the closure of the recreational facility and threatening to set the building ablaze. Area Officer Commanding Station Francis Tumbo was forced to intervene and closed two bars on the premises to ease the tension. Security personnel had a hard time controlling the youths and it took the intervention of councillors, imams and the police to cool them down.

However, they camped outside the building demanding the arrest of the girl, Rahima, they claim wrote on the wall. "This is very wrong. How can a person write the name of Allah at a place where people go naked to take a bath and do other evil things? We want action to be taken against the suspect and we shall not move until she is arrested," a protester shouted outside the bar.

The protestors remained at the hotel for more than four hours chanting the Takhbir solidarity slogan [That's "Allahu akbar" -- RS] and the Muslim call to mass action while condemning the act. Security personnel from the police and Kenya Army kept vigil and monitored the building. Mohamed Abdulkhadir from the Coast Interfaith Council of Clerics who was present at the protests condemened [sic] the act saying it could trigger chaos because it had offended the Islamic faith.

Where are all the Western Islamic apologists who claim that Islam grants women equality with men? Zayed, call your office! "Muslim clerics roar at Kenyan chief justice," by Musdaf Abdullahi for AfricaNews, October 5 (thanks to Twostellas):

Muslim clerics differed on the move taken by the Kenyan Chief Justice (CJ) Willy Mutunga. Mutunga wants to introduce post of female magistrate in the Khathis court which majority of the Muslim leaders term as disrespect to their faith. "This is a religious institution not a secular one and therefore it must be treated with respect." said Sheikh Abdullahi Abdi the chairman of National Muslim Leaders Forum (NAMLEF).

The C J argued that some other countries have women representatives in their Khathis courts and Kenya should not be left behind. He also argued the move is one of the actions in the judicial reforms.

“I am happy about the ongoing debate over women in the Khathis court and there is no reason as to why they should not be represented’’ Mutunga said. But the idea was flouted by the Secretary General of Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya (CIPK) who is also nominated MP, Sheikh Mohammed Dor.

Dor said the constitution recognizes different faith groups in the country and Islam is one of these groups that have its norms which must be respected. “Khathi court is not a secular court. They are religious Muslim courts that are guided by the teachings of the Holy Qur’an .the [sic] Holy Qur’an contains the commandments of Allah it should not be altered by anyone” Said Dor.

Chief Khadhi sheikh Ahmad Muhdhar concurred with the CJ despite many Muslim scholars opposing the move. He said the work of a khadhi is to follow Islamic laws in discharging her duties although he added there are some trifle ‘technicalities’ which can be dealt with. He added that the work of a Khadhi pertain matters of personal status like marriage divorce and inheritance which a woman can handle.

“Kenya is not the first country to establish such position in its Islamic courts, there are countries like Egypt, Tunisia, Sudan, Turkey among others that recognizes the post of a female magistrate in their Khadhis court.” The chief Khadhi said.

The idea was vehemently opposed by the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslim (SUPKEM) Director General Abdiladif Shaaban. “The CJ has to be cautious on such matters. There are some Islamic rituals that are conducted in the mosque by men only, so I am urging the Mutunga to desist the move, said Shaaban.

This Kenyan bill wants to allow men to marry more than four wives, but the point here is the absolute nature of Shabani Mwalimu's statement. Honest Ibe Hooper of Hamas-linked CAIR has admitted that some Muslims in the U.S. practice polygamy. And what Shabani Mwalimu says here is true: the Qur'an allows for polygamy, and so it is not negotiable for Muslims. Yet it is ostensibly illegal in the U.S. Is anyone investigating? Why not?

"Kenya: Muslim Party Opposes Marriage Bill," by Brian Otieno for AllAfrica.com, July 14 (thanks to Twostellas):

A section of Muslims has opposed the Marriage Bill that seeks to abolish dowry payment and allow a man to marry more than four wives. The Islamic party of Hizb ut-Tahrir East Africa yesterday criticised the Bill introduced by the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution saying it demeans women.

The party said marriage between men and women is a divine ruling that honours the status of a woman, adding that those against payment of dowry are promoting oppression of women. "Allah understands our needs far better than we do. He has allowed polygamy and obliged men to pay dowry. These are definite Islamic rulings which cannot be debated," said Shabani Mwalimu, the media representative of the party.

The CIPK organising secretary Sheikh Mohamed Khalifa said the Bill of Rights provides that marriage issues between Muslim couples will have to be restricted to the Islamic sharia. "That is not an important issue to us because when it comes to marriage, we have Islamic guidelines that the new constitution allows us to follow," Sheikh Khalifa said.

The Marriage Bill does not specify the number of women a man in a polygamous family can have. Hizb ut-Tahrir East Africa said if the Bill became law, many Islamic men may be tempted to be promiscuous. Mwalimu said the restriction to a monogamous family set up for those who had not declared that their family would be polygamous in the first marriage is oppressive. "Our faith allows us to have up a maximum of four wives. So what happens if I want to add a second, third and fourth wife today?" posed Mwalimu.

Of course their anger is completely justified. Who ever heard of mosques being used to recruit jihad terrorists? In recent years we have seen mosques used to preach hatred; to spread exhortations to terrorist activity; to house a bomb factory; to store weapons; to disseminate messages from bin Laden; to demand (in the U.S.) that non-Muslims conform to Islamic dietary restrictions; to fire on American troops; to fire upon Indian troops; to train jihadists; and so we know they're places of peace, and anyone who suggests otherwise is a greasy Islamophobe.

"Kenya: Imams Deny U.S. Claims On Isiolo Mosques," from The Nation (Nairobi), March 24 (thanks to Twostelas):

Nairobi — Imams and preachers in Isiolo have denied claims that four mosques in the area were used for recruiting youths for al-Shabaab.

Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims Isiolo branch chairman Mohamed Abdikadir led the leaders in condemning the allegations, terming them as falsehoods.

They demanded an immediate apology from the US government and warned against such allegations in future.

"It is unfortunate that US officials can mislead their government and the world by reporting such baseless claims against a religious centre," Mr Abdikadir said.

The chairman wants the US ambassador to Kenya to visit Isiolo to ascertain the truth about such allegations.

"We fear that the government might take action on innocent Kenyans on baseless claims by the foreigners," said Mr Abdikadir.

The leaked cables state that four mosques in Isiolo, Masjid Hidaya, Masjid Taqwa in Bula Odha and two other unnamed mosques located in the county were responsible for recruiting fighters for the militia group....

The aptly-named Sheikh Rage fumes that "Kenya has long been working to undermine the existence of the Islamic sharia in Somalia." Note that Rage casts the conflict as Kenyan aggression; in the jihadist mindset, the jihadists are never the aggressors, but are constantly attacked by others.

"Somali rebels threaten Kenya for 'training militia,'" from AFP, February 28:

MOGADISHU — Somalia's Al Qaeda-inspired rebels have accused Kenya of training militia to attack them and warned of reprisals.

The warning late Sunday by Shebab spokesman Sheik Ali Mohamud Rage came after days of fierce clashes in the south of the war-torn country between the insurgents and fighters they said were trained by Kenya.

"Kenya has long been working to undermine the existence of the Islamic sharia in Somalia," Rage told reporters in Mogadishu.

"It has opened training camps inside (Somali) territories to train apostate Somali militants and also offered military bases to Ethiopian forces who are invading the neighbouring Islamic region of Gedo.

"We shall no longer tolerate the constant aggression and ill acts of Kenya against our Muslim society. Kenya will bear responsibility for the consequences of the continuing aggression."...

"A notebook found on Molanda's body had the phone number of one of those charged on Wednesday, Aboud Rogo Mohammed -- who was acquitted in 2005 of involvement in the 2002 bombing of the Israeli-owned Paradise Hotel in Mombasa which killed 15 people."

"Kenya charges two with al-Shabaab membership," from Reuters, December 22:

NAIROBI, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Two Kenyans were charged on Wednesday with being members of the Somalia-based rebel group al-Shabaab, and police linked one of them to an explosion near a Kampala-bound bus in the capital Nairobi earlier this week.

Police said the Russian-made grenade in a plastic bag that exploded on Monday was being carried by Tanzanian Albert Molanda, who was killed by the blast. Police said he planned to transport the device to the Ugandan capital Kampala.

A notebook found on Molanda's body had the phone number of one of those charged on Wednesday, Aboud Rogo Mohammed -- who was acquitted in 2005 of involvement in the 2002 bombing of the Israeli-owned Paradise Hotel in Mombasa which killed 15 people.

Mohammed and his co-accused, Abubakar Shariff Ahmed, pleaded not guilty in the High Court in Nairobi to charges of being members of al Shabaab, and were remanded in custody pending a ruling on their bail plea.

No one has claimed responsibility for the Nairobi blast, but Kenyan police chief Mathew Iteere said the attacker could have been inspired by al Shabaab....

But remember: the real problem is Christian "extremists" who oppose gay marriage. Obama campaigned for Odinga, although he has denounced an initiative similar to this one in Uganda. Sharia Alert from Kenya: "Arrest gays, Kenyan PM orders," by Bernard Momanyi for Capital News, November 29:

NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 28 - Prime Minister Raila Odinga has ordered a nationwide crackdown on homosexuals in Kenya.

Mr Odinga on Sunday said that police should arrest anyone found engaging in such behaviours and take appropriate legal action against them.

"We will not tolerate such behaviours in the country. The constitution is very clear on this issue and men or women found engaging in homosexuality will not be spared," Mr Odinga said.

"Any man found engaging in sexual activities with another man should be arrested. Even women found engaging in sexual activities will be arrested," the premier warned....

"This [homosexual] kind of behaviours will not be tolerated in this country. Men or women found engaging in those acts deserve to be arrested and will be arrested," he told the crowd....

A move by Uganda to introduce a Bill calling for long jail terms or death penalty in some cases of homosexuality received international condemnation, with US President Barack Obama describing it as "odious".

He said: "But surely we can agree that it is unconscionable to target gays and lesbians for who they are, whether it is here in the United States or... more extremely, in odious laws that are being proposed more recently in Uganda."

But notwithstanding Obama's remarks, homosexual acts are now illegal in Uganda and attracts jail terms of up to 14 years in prison.

How many in Somalia, and in this Somali neighborhood, never thought it would get this bad? How many more deluded themselves that Sharia, once implemented, wouldn't include any of the nastier practices?

Those who dismiss concerns about Islamization in the West are also those who would insist it could never really get so bad. The problem is, it does, and we have witnessed locales like Bosnia, Chechnya, and even Britain in the era of Sharia courts suddenly surprised at the number and power of the "extremists." "In Kenya's capital, Somali immigrant neighborhood is incubator for jihad," by Sudarsan Raghavan for the Washington Post, August 22:

NAIROBI -- Behind the blue gates of his Islamic school in Nairobi's Eastleigh neighborhood, Ahmed Awil cannot escape his country's civil war.

Schools and mosques where extremist views are taught are reshaping this Somali immigrant community that for years has lived peacefully in the capital of this predominantly Christian country. Moderate imams now compete with hard-line preachers pushing a strict interpretation of Islam. Bookstores sell anti-Western literature. Residents speak fearfully of militant spies, and children like Ahmed are taught to praise al-Shabab, an al-Qaeda-linked militia, for waging jihad in Somalia against the U.S.-backed government.

"My teachers tell us al-Shabab is fighting for our religion and for our country," said Ahmed, a skinny 11-year-old who fled Somalia after al-Shabab fighters slaughtered his neighbor and tried to recruit him. "Sometimes they ask us if we would like to go there and fight."

Eastleigh, a run-down enclave where tens of thousands of Somalis live, has become an incubator for Islamic extremism, Kenyan officials and community leaders say. It has also emerged as a micro-battlefield in the war on terrorism, attracting American funds.

"What most worries me is that this extremist ideology will continue to grow," said Dualle Abdi Malik, the director of Fathu Rahman, a moderate Islamic school. "We have to confront it before it is too late."

Somali immigrant communities across the Horn of Africa and Yemen have come under greater scrutiny since twin bombings last month targeted World Cup soccer fans in the Ugandan capital of Kampala. Al-Shabab asserted responsibility for the attacks, its first major international operation since it rose to power several years ago in Somalia.

Members of al-Shabab, which in Arabic means "The Youth," and other Somali militants freely travel to Nairobi to raise funds, recruit and treat wounded fighters, according to U.N. and Kenyan security officials. Somali-American jihadists have met contacts in Eastleigh before heading to Somalia to fight with al-Shabab.

"Eastleigh is a copy of Mogadishu," said Mohamed Omar Dalha, Somalia's social affairs minister, referring to the Somali capital. "Everything that happens in Mogadishu happens in Eastleigh, except the fighting."

Fertile ground for radicals

At the al-Huda Islamic bookshop, a closet-sized stall nestled near one of Eastleigh's radical mosques, several youths browsed the fare on a recent day. Koranic tomes pack the shelves. Recordings of lectures and debates that glorify the neighborhood's radical Somali preachers are sold openly.

"Our religion calls on us to kill everyone who does not believe in Allah and his Prophet Muhammed deeply," Abdulrahman Abdullahi, a black-clad imam, declares in one DVD. [...]

What kind of inflammatory literature would endorse such an open-ended call for violence against non-believers? Oh, wait:

Qur'an 9:5: "So when the sacred months have passed away, then slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush, then if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, leave their way free to them; surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful."

At the Ansaaru primary school, where Awil attends classes, boys and girls study biology, chemistry and geography. In religion class, they are taught that it is every Muslim's duty to "liberate" Jerusalem and its sacred al-Aqsa mosque, Awil and three other students said.

Sometimes, the students said, the teachers show them video clips of jihadists fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia.

"They tell us that al-Shabab hates Western countries like America," said Zakeria Omar, 11, a student. "And that it is all right to cut the throats of every citizen of these countries."...

Obama campaigned in Kenya in August 2006 for the presidential candidate Raila Odinga, who is now Prime Minister of Kenya. Odinga has troubling ties to Islamic hardliners: he reportedly made a fortune in the oil industry by making a deal with the Al-Bakri Group of Saudi Arabia. Abdulkader al-Bakri, the CEO of the Al Bakri Group, has been identified as a sponsor of Al-Qaeda. Odinga also cultivated ties with Muammar Gaddafi.

And now this: the U.S. government is promoting a pro-Sharia Constitution in Kenya. This should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed Obama's consistent pro-Islamic supremacist, pro-Sharia policies; get the full story of Obama's dealings with Odinga and his Islamic supremacist ties in general in The Post-American Presidency.

Is there any problem with the President of the United States pushing and financing in another country the establishment of a system that would deny basic freedoms? Does anyone care?

"Trouble in Kenya," by Kathryn Lopez, July 9 (thanks to Neil):

[...] Biden was in Kenya leading what sounded a lot like a rally for that nation's new constitution, one that's going to be voted on in August. It's a fatally flawed document, inimical to the values of many Kenyans. The government lost a constitutional vote once before, and it's called out the big guns for this propaganda campaign, including claimed promises of an Obama visit if the populace knuckles under.

Many foreign observers have enthusiastically joined the government and the Kenyan mainstream media in insisting that a "yes" vote is essential. But it's far from an open-and-shut case. [...]

U.S. financial and rhetorical support for the Kenyan constitution has some members of Congress calling for an investigation. In a letter to Department of State officials and others, Reps. Chris Smith of New Jersey, Darrell Issa of California and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida raised questions about U.S. lobbying in Kenya -- specifically, the possibility that the Obama administration may have violated federal law in doing so.

Administration officials have denied any impropriety. But, as the letter points out, our ambassador to Kenya has been quoted as saying that the U.S. has given Kenya $2 million for "civic education" on the constitution, and that we're committed to more.

"The U.S. shouldn't be interfering with this process, and we have serious questions about why the Obama administration is promoting a constitution which allows abortion on demand and waters down protections for religious freedom," Rebecca Marchinda of the New York-based World Youth Alliance, which has an office in Nairobi, says. [...]

...the proposed constitution would also create a legal system within a legal system -- codifying the strengthening of sharia by making it apply to every Muslim Kenyan. As Eric Rassbach of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty points out: "People are subjected to these tribunals merely by virtue of what religious community they were born into, and they have no way of opting out."

Ray Walser of the Heritage Foundation gives the Obama administration the benefit of the doubt: "I would suspect the administration is pushing the constitution package as a whole with the promise to reduce presidential power and to place constitutional safeguards against corruption." That would take Vice President Biden at his word. But the Achilles heel of this administration is that it is not, in the subtle words of Walser, "adverse to measures that permit space for sharia-like legal customs -- for Muslim outreach/public-diplomacy purposes"...

Nina Shea, director of the Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom, has a more direct and alarming warning: "The U.S. is drifting unconsciously, haltingly, inconsistently toward a foreign policy that actively promotes the state coercion of Islamic strictures. It adopted such a policy in its financial and legal drafting support of the constitutions of Iraq and Afghanistan. ... It did so at the U.N. Human Rights Council in October 2009, when the U.S. joined with Egypt, representing the Organization of the Islamic Conference, to introduce a resolution calling for states to enforce their hate-speech laws. It explained its initiative, which shocked many NGOs, as seeking to 'reach out to Muslim countries.'" [...]

Certainly any Western state that ruled Islamic courts illegal would be tarred as "racist," as is any individual who opposes Islamic supremacism and Sharia. So is Kenya racist now?

"Kenya court rules Islamic courts are illegal," from the BBC, May 24 (thanks to Davida):

Kenya's Islamic courts are illegal and discriminatory, a panel of judges has ruled.

The three judges said the Islamic "Kadhi" courts favoured Islam over other faiths, and that this was unconstitutional as Kenya was a secular country.

The issue of Islamic courts has been a contentious point in the country's new proposed constitution.

It is due to go to a referendum in August.

The Kadhi courts - set up under British colonial rule - mainly deal with matters of marriage and inheritance for Kenya's Muslim minority.

The Christian church in Kenya brought the case to court six years ago....

Sheikh Ali Dhere is a Misunderstander of Islam. He doesn't seem to understand that jihad is primarily an interior spiritual struggle. Nor does he seem to understand that when jihad becomes martial, it is only for defense. Instead, he seems to think that jihad involves offensive warfare to impose the rule of Islamic law over the world. Now where did he get such a crazy idea? Has he been reading the work of greasy Islamophobes?

"Al Shabaab ask [sic] Kenya to keep off," by Abdulkadir Khalif for The Daily Nation (Kenya), May 21:

Somali insurgent group al Shabaab has once again warned Kenya to stop interfering in the affairs of Somalia.

The rebel group's spokesman, Sheikh Ali Mohamoud Raghe alias Sheikh Ali Dhere, said Kenya was among Christian (non-Muslim) forces opposing his movement's Jihad (holy war) against the Transitional Federal Government in Mogadishu.

"We know that Kenya is supporting few cowards around its border," he said at a passing out parade for rebel fighters in the port city of Kismayu.

"You Jihadists are going to crush those elements and move beyond into Kenya," he added.

Kenya, he said, is in a glass house and should not start throwing stones.

"Kenya should learn from what happened to the mightier Ethiopian forces," said Sheikh Ali Dhere. "Thousands of Ethiopians had to stream to the border in total defeat."

He asked the trainees to remain morally and spiritually equipped to confront any threat against Islam.

The militants, he said, were in Jihad against non-Muslims anywhere around the world.

"The jihad is for the liberation of all Muslims around the world," said Sheikh Ali Dhere. "When we succeed in this part, we will to move to other parts until we ensure only Allah is worshipped in this world," he added amid chants of Allahu Akbar (God is Great)....

Kenya has responded by deploying security agents. As a government spokesman said here, "On our side of the border is a nation of law and order where there is no legal restriction on showing football."

"Kenya investigates Islamic group crackdown on soccer," by Noor Ali for Reuters, April 30:

(Reuters) - Kenya has deployed security agents to its border with Somalia after Islamic clerics announced they had clamped down on the public broadcast of soccer and films, a security official said.

Clerics in the frontier town of Mandera said Monday they had confiscated a number of satellite TV dishes in a football-obsessed nation ahead of the World Cup because public film dens were corrupting youths.

"Two groups, an undercover team from National Security Intelligence Service and (an) anti-terrorist unit, arrived here Tuesday night to investigate," a senior local security source who did not wish to be named told Reuters late Thursday.

The security officer also said another team had been dispatched to Dadaab refugee camp which is home to some 270,000 mostly Somali refugees in the mostly Muslim region.

He said local residents from Mandera, located just a few kilometres from the porous border, claimed al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab rebels in Somalia had made phone calls to congratulate the clerics.

A government spokesman denied the deployment but one leading cleric in Mandera, Sheikh Daud Sheikh Mahmud, said he had been informed of the intelligence officers' arrival.

Mandera district's top civil servant sought to allay fears that hardline Islamist insurgents in southern Somalia might be extending their influence across the frontier and said it was a local security committee that had closed down the video halls.

"The closure of video dens has the government's blessing," said District Commissioner Francis Lenyangume.

Lenyangume said parents backed the move because the dens were frequented by drug pushers and showed pornographic films. Local residents were free to watch the World Cup and satellite TV in their own homes, he said.

Creeping Sharia is creeping Sharia, and the Kenyan government has a vested interest in monitoring and resisting it. For that matter, claims of this kind at combating "pornography" are best taken with a grain of salt, as demonstrated by the threat posed to legitimate cultural and religious expression seen in Indonesia.

Al Shabaab militants control swathes of central and southern Somalia, including much of the area bordering Kenya, enforcing a harsh version of sharia law that includes banning music on radios and amputating the hands of thieves.

Ten percent of Kenya's 39 million people are Muslim and 78 percent are Christian, according to the CIA World Factbook.

With apologies to Dr. Seuss: Oh, The Places You'll Misunderstand Islam! "Kenyan Police Hunting Australian Terror Suspect," from VOA News, March 30:

Anti-terrorism police units in Kenya are still searching for a Somali-born Australian terror suspect, who escaped earlier this month while in police custody in a town near the Ugandan border. The incident has prompted the Kenyan government to tighten security throughout the country.

Kenyan police spokesman Eric Kiraithe declined to comment on the circumstances that may have led to the escape of the terror suspect Hussein Hashi Farah. But Kiraithe says every effort is being made to find him.

"We are not going to give you that information at this point in time because investigations are going on. We have taken a lot of security measures to re-arrest that man," he said.

Anti-terrorism police units are searching towns in and around the western border town of Busia, and authorities say security in all airports and border points in Kenya has been tightened.

Immigration officials in Busia detained Farah in mid-March, after his name appeared on an international terrorism watch list. According to local media reports, Farah was in police custody for several days and was about to be transferred to Nairobi when he escaped.

The Kenyan police spokesman says the terror suspect may have been released by mistake. He dismissed rumors that Farah had bribed his way out of jail.

The Somali man, who holds an Australian passport, is believed to have been involved in the planning of a suicide attack on an Australian military base last August.

The attack was foiled and Farah evaded capture in Australia. But several other suspects - all Australian citizens of Somali and Lebanese origins - were subsequently arrested and charged. The men are alleged to have ties to the al-Qaida-linked militant group al-Shabab in Somalia, which is listed as a terrorist group by several Western countries, including Australia and the United States.

There has been no official comment from the Australian government about Farah's disappearance. But local media reports say it has privately expressed to the Kenyan government its concern and alarm over the apparent security failure....

"Christian leaders point out that the 'Harmonized Draft' of the constitution discriminates against non-Muslims and contradicts its own Article 10 (1-3), which states that there shall be no state religion, that the state shall treat all religions equally and that state and religion shall be separate."

An update on this story. "Push for Islamic Courts in Kenya Alarms Christians," from Compass Direct News, February 12:

NAIROBI, Kenya (Compass Direct News) - A constitutional battle to expand the scope of Islamic courts in Kenya threatens to ignite religious tensions at a time when authorities are on high alert against Muslim extremists with ties to Somalia.

Constitutional provisions for Islamic or Kadhis' courts have existed in Kenya since 1963, with the courts serving the country's coastal Muslim population in matters of personal status, marriage, divorce, or inheritance. Kenya's secular High Court has jurisdiction over civil and criminal matters, and even a decision in the Islamic courts can be appealed at the High Court.

The Islamic courts have functioned only in Kenya's Coast Province, but in a hotly debated draft constitution, their jurisdiction would expand across the nation and their scope would increase. The proposed constitution has gathered enough momentum that 23 leaders of churches and Christian organizations released a statement on Feb. 1 asserting their opposition to any inclusion of such religious courts.

"It is clear that the Muslim community is basically carving for itself an Islamic state within a state," the Kenyan church leaders stated. "This is a state with its own sharia [Islamic law]- compliant banking system; its own sharia-compliant insurance; its own Halaal [lawful in Islam] bureau of standards; and it is now pressing for its own judicial system."

Muslim leaders are striving to expand the scope of Islamic courts to include civil and small claims cases. They also want to upgrade the Muslim tribunals to High Court status. These demands have alarmed Christians, who make up 80 percent of the population and defeated a similar proposal in a 2005 referendum. Muslims make up 10 percent of Kenya's 39 million people, 9 percent of the population follows indigenous religions and less than 1 percent are Hindu, Sikh and Baha'i.

The National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) said the Committee of Experts (CoE) responsible for "harmonizing" drafts from various stakeholders ignored their concerns. The committee was responsible for determining what matters would be unduly "contentious" and was charged with keeping them out of the draft.

"We wrote to them, but we have been ignored," said the Rev. Canon Peter Karanja, NCCK general secretary. "Who told the CoE that Kadhis' courts were not contentious?"

Saying the committee ignored the crucial requirement of omitting what is "contentious," Karanja said it did little to build consensus. He said that unless the Islamic courts are stricken from the constitution, Christians might be forced to reject the document in a national referendum later this year.

Muslim leaders, just as stridently, insist that recognition of the Islamic courts does not elevate Islam over other religions, and that if the courts are removed they will shoot down the draft in the referendum.

The 2005 referendum split the country and was followed by a bitterly disputed presidential election in 2007 that sparked rioting, reportedly leaving 1,300 people dead. The election dispute was resolved with one candidate becoming president and the other prime minister, and at the heart of the proposed constitution is an attempt to transfer presidential powers to the prime minister.

Christian leaders point out that the "Harmonized Draft" of the constitution discriminates against non-Muslims and contradicts its own Article 10 (1-3), which states that there shall be no state religion, that the state shall treat all religions equally and that state and religion shall be separate. They see the attempt to expand the scope of the Islamic courts as part of a long-term effort by Muslims to gain political, economic and judicial power....

That was bound to happen sooner or later, just as soon as al-Shabaab got strong enough to expand its horizons. The newly minted alliance with al-Qaeda is also significant, as al-Shabaab has access to al-Qaeda's assets in the region to make good on its threats. "Somalia: Al-Shabaab declares jihad on Kenya," from Garowe Online, February 7:

The Islamic administration of Al-Shabaab that controls Somalia's southern regions of Jubba has on Sunday declared holy war on Kenya over reports that Nairobi is training Somali troops.

Sheikh Hussen Abdi Gedi, Al-Shabaab's second in command in the southern port city of Kismayo said his group has received reports of planned offensives from the Kenyan side, urging the regions' residents to prepare for holy war.

"Kenya has prepared troops that comprise of Kenyans and Somalis, who are trained to attack and take over the regions. They are planning to attack us on the land, sea and air. We are urging people to be ready and defend our land," he told Al-Shabaab's Andalus radio on Sunday.

Andalus: We've got your convivencia right here, kuffar.

His sentiments come as Kismayo, the lucrative southern Somali port city that fuels insurgent activities across the war-torn country, witnesses a low flying military planes which raised high tension.

The border between the two countries has also seen the enormous presence of Kenyan troops, who are patrolling with the battle wagons.

It is the first time that the rebel group has declared jihad against Kenya since capturing the bordering region.

However, Kenya denied reports of its involvement in the training of Somali soldiers, saying it has nothing to do with the Somali issues.

Sources quoted by Garowe Online said Nairobi trained in its soil some 2,500 troops, who are ready to join the Somali government's offensive against Al Shabaab rebels.

"The PM also appealed to the Muslim community to remain calm and give the government time on their grievances." Grievance? Al-Faisal is a jihad terrorist, but who cares? Muslims, after stabbing and looting and destroying, have grievances! Violent intimidation works again, courtesy Obama's friend Raila Odinga.

"Kenyan PM orders investigations into Muslim riots," from Xinhua, January 16 (thanks to Maxwell):

NAIROBI, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Saturday ordered investigations into Friday's demonstrations called by Kenyan Muslims to protest the arrest of controversial Jamaican Muslim cleric Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal.

Odinga instructed Internal Security Minister to carry out comprehensive and urgent investigations into the riots that left at least five people dead and the fatal shooting of protesters.

"The PM also appealed to the Muslim community to remain calm and give the government time on their grievances," a statement said.

The peaceful protest turned violent as the marchers pelted police officers with stones who in turn fired in the air and lobbed tear gas canisters.

Several people including police officers were among those who were seriously injured in the protest while some of them were stabbed by the demonstrators.

Shops adjacent to the mosque were looted and vehicles that were parked on the streets had their windscreens smashed by stone-throwing youths....

Dominos. "Al-Shabaab rebels seize town close to Kenyan border," from the Daily Nation, November 29 (thanks to Maxwell):

Somalia's al-Shabaab insurgents have captured a key town close to the border with Kenya. The al Qaeda linked rebels are said to have driven out combatants of Hizbu-Islam, another Islamist group opposing the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia (TFG), to take control of Dhobley, the border town.

Sheikh Hassan Yakoub Ali, a resident, said that Hizbu-Islam fighters had crossed the border into Kenya, adding that the rebels held talks with Kenyan officials. With this victory, al-Shabaab appears to have consolidated its presence in the strategic Juba region....

So far, Hizbu-Islam has not issued a statement on the issue. Meanwhile, al-Shabaab leader Sheikh Mukhtar Abdurahman Abu Zubayr has rejected any reconciliation offers by the government.

He said that unless foreign forces leave the country and an Islamic state is established, his movement would intensify attacks. Over 5,000 African Union peacekeepers, made up contingents from Uganda and Somalia, are in the country.

Al-Haramain is just the tip of the iceberg. From AP, with thanks to Ali Dashti:

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- Al-Qaida has siphoned millions of dollars from Islamic charities that help poor Muslims in Africa and Asia, and U.S. and Saudi government efforts to cut the flow have largely failed, Western diplomats and former charity workers say.

Working with sympathizers inside the charities, al-Qaida has for years used humanitarian funds for terror attacks in Kenya, Tanzania and Indonesia, U.S. and other Western officials told The Associated Press.

In one case, donations to the Al-Haramain Foundation to support Islamic preachers ended up in the pockets of a suspect in the November 2002 bombing of an Israeli hotel in Kenya, a Western diplomat told AP.

A wholesale fish business financed with Al-Haramain funds also steered profits to the al-Qaida cell behind the August 1998 bombings of the U.S. Embassies in East Africa, U.S. officials told AP.

This article about Al-Qaeda activities in East Africa assumes that the group only gets members by bribing poor Muslims, deceiving people, or playing on resentment and anger. While noting that radical Muslims preached to the locals, it doesn't explore in any depth the possibility that the group's carefully structured Islamic theological and legal arguments might have struck a chord with pious Muslims. When the radical Nabhan is portrayed below as preaching that America and Israel must be destroyed, the article makes no attempt to explain why preaching that anyone should be destroyed might resonate with Muslims well-versed in Qur'an passages such as "slay the unbelievers wherever you find them" (Sura 9:5), and a host of others.

Of course, the possibility that core elements of Islam might have something to do with all this trouble is so distasteful as to be beyond consideration by nearly everyone across the political spectrum -- conservatives and liberals alike -- in the U.S., despite the importance of recognizing this if it is indeed happening. If moderate Muslims really want to stamp out terrorism, let them formulate a convincing non-violent reading of the Qur'an and relevant ahadith -- not convincing to Western non-Muslims (that's easy), but to Muslims themselves who may be tempted to radicalism.

Anyway, the article is still useful as a glimpse into the Al-Qaeda modus operandi, as well as providing more evidence of the fact noted below: that radical Muslims operate globally, considering themselves around the world to be fighting the same struggle. It's from SA, with thanks to Mrs. Obelix:

"When Fazul Abdullah Mohammed showed up in this little fishing village, there was already a local soccer club - and its name was al-Qaeda. Not content to join a team others had started, the alleged mastermind of two terrorist bombings in East Africa organised his own. Its name - Kabul, like the capital of Afghanistan, where he allegedly trained with Osama bin Laden's real al-Qaeda organisation.

"All along Kenya's Indian Ocean coast, al-Qaeda members have woven themselves into the fabric of the region's Islamic society. Using money to buy the allegiance of poor Muslims or passing themselves off as simple men looking for a quiet place to lead a devout life, the operatives have managed to build a formidable network throughout eastern Africa, US officials say.

"Foreigners like Fazul, who is wanted by the United States for the car bombings of the US Embassy in Nairobi in August 1998 and a coastal hotel in November 2002, settled in small towns and married local women. Kenyans like Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, who is suspected of building the bomb used in the hotel attack, sought out like-minded compatriots in the thousands of mosques that dot the coast.

"Hundreds of new al-Qaeda members have been recruited, and most remain at large - including Fazul and Nabhan - despite stepped-up anti-terrorism efforts, said US Marine Brigadier General Martin Robeson, commander of the regional US-led anti-terror task force based in nearby Djibouti. 'We know for a fact of young al-Qaeda operatives who've moved into areas, put large sums of money on the table to marry local girls, purely and simply to establish a bloodline and a financial obligation they seek to turn into a guarantee of a safe place to live,' he said.

"In general, the Islamic terror network has not found legions of Muslims in Kenya who share its religious views. For centuries, a relatively liberal and mystical brand of Islam has dominated on the coast, not the rigid interpretation promoted by al-Qaeda. But al-Qaeda operatives have found Muslims resentful in the East African country, not just over calamities across the larger Islamic world, but also over discrimination - real and perceived - at home.

"In its drive to recruit, al-Qaeda has exploited the resentment Kenyan Muslims feel toward their government, which since independence in 1963 has been dominated by Christians from inland tribes and has had strong ties to the United States and Israel. Al-Qaida 'has corrupted some of our young people,' said Sheikh Ali Shee, a prominent religious leader in the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa. 'We were not always like this ... we have a history of openness.'

"The coast's distinctive Arab flavour - the region has absorbed waves of immigrants from Yemen and Oman over the centuries - has also made fitting in easy for Arabs operatives, like Mustafa Mohamed Fadhil, an Egyptian who married a Kenyan teenager and is wanted by the United States for his alleged role in the embassy bombing.

"Kenya's notoriously weak security forces, coupled with the historically poor relations between the police and coastal Muslims, has allowed al-Qaeda operatives to work undetected, said one US official, speaking from Washington.

"In Siyu, Fazul had been hiding in plain sight. He was relatively unknown to US and Kenyan officials before the 1998 car bombings of the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, attacks that killed 231 people, including 12 Americans. But within months of that attack, Fazul was indicted by a US court that later convicted four other suspects. Since the indictment, Fazul's face has been plastered on the walls of Kenyan police stations; he also has a $25m bounty on his head.

"Yet in January 2001, using the alias 'Abdul Karim,' he showed up with a group of itinerant preachers at Siyu, a village of mud and stone houses on Pate Island, about 275km) north of Mombasa. Fazul settled down with the family of a village elder, Mohammed Kubwa Seif, eventually marrying the man's daughter, Amina. A native of the Comoros, an archipelago off the coast of Mozambique, Fazul spoke the local language, Kiswahili, and knew the coast's Islamic culture.

"Yet even in Siyu, his religious fundamentalism stood out. Fazul 'didn't want us praying near graves or celebrating the Prophet's birthday' - two common Muslim practices on the coast, said Mohammed Ali, a fisherman. 'Most people ignored him.'

"The police did, too. 'I met him once,' said Majid Hussein, a police officer in the nearby town of Lamu. 'He was walking around reading from a little Quran ... I thought he was just another one of these wandering preachers.'

"Fazul wasn't. And Kenyan officials say some people in town may have been paying attention to what he was saying: Seif has been charged by a Kenyan court with conspiracy to commit murder for his alleged role in four al-Qaeda plots, including the embassy bombing and the 2002 hotel bombing north of Mombasa, an attack that killed 15 people, including three Israeli tourists. Seif's son, Kubwa Mohammed, has been charged with murder in connection with the hotel attack.

"It's not clear whether Fazul put down any money to establish a safe haven in Siyu, but he apparently felt the village was a safe place to hide. Following the hotel attack, he spent another two months in Siyu, disappearing only last January. However, he reportedly slipped back into Mombasa in May, prompting a round of terror alerts from the United States and Britain. US and Kenyan officials believe he's still in the region, probably in Kenya or Somalia. Nabhan, who has not been charged with any crimes, also figured into the May terror warnings.

"The Kenyan is believed to have joined al-Qaeda after the 1998 embassy bombing and was the alleged ringleader of a plot to destroy the new US Embassy in Nairobi this past June. Raised in a relatively well-off Mombasa family, Nabhan regularly frequented the central Noor Mosque, which attracts poorer Muslims, in the two years before the 2002 hotel attack, said Abdullah, an elderly man at the mosque.

"Nabhan 'was well-dressed, clean-shaven, very polite,' said Abdullah, who gave only a first name. 'Very quiet, very simple - he just prayed.'

"But Ibrahim, a 19-year-old Somali immigrant who also worships at the mosque, said Nabhan often preached to the younger Muslims. An illegal immigrant, Ibrahim spoke on the condition that only his first name be used. Nabhan, he said, 'explained America, Israel are what? They are enemies. He said we must do what? We must destroy them.'

"It's not clear whether Nabhan, who in the fall of 2002 rented a house in Mombasa where police say the car bomb used in the hotel attack was made, first met another Kenyan al-Qaeda suspect - Salmin Mohammed Khamis - at the Noor mosque. But when Khamis was arrested on June 17, he reportedly told police that Nabhan invited him to a secret al-Qaeda meeting a month earlier in Malindi, a town north of Mombasa, where the plot to destroy the new US Embassy was hatched.

"Like Fazul, Nabhan is also thought to be hiding in either Kenya or Somalia."