For the jihadists, respecting territorial integrity is a one-way street. Al-Shabaab’s kidnapping of aid workers on Kenyan territory has provoked a major military response, so much so that the group may have overreached this time. But where they lose control of territory, they can fall back on what they do best: not fighting like men, but targeting civilians in asymmetrical warfare. That is exactly what they are threatening to do here.
An update on this story. “Somali militants threaten suicide attacks in Kenya,” by Abdi Gouled and Katharine Houreld for the Associated Press, October 17:
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) “” Somalia’s most dangerous militant group threatened Kenya with suicide attacks on Monday, saying Nairobi’s skyscrapers would be destroyed and its tourism industry ruined in an ominous warning one day after Kenyan troops poured into Somalia.
And now, a word from Sheikh Rage, as he is also known. Sheikh Happy remains on indefinite unpaid leave, while Sheikh Lust, Sheikh Pride, Sheikh Envy, and Sheikh Greed are in line to receive bonuses.
Al-Shabab spokesman Ali Mohamud Rage told a news conference in Mogadishu on Monday that Kenya must pull its troops out of Somalia. “Otherwise remember what happened in Uganda’s capital,” he said.
Al-Shabab unleashed near simultaneous suicide bombings at public venues in Kampala in July 2010 as crowds gathered to watch the World Cup final on TV, killing 76 people. The militant group said the attack was in retaliation for Uganda’s deployment of troops to Mogadishu as part of the African Union peacekeeping force there.
Hundreds of Kenyan troops poured into Somalia over the weekend following the kidnappings of four Europeans inside Kenya near the Somali border. Kenyan officials say the country has the right to defend itself from Somalia’s most powerful militant group, though Rage denied the group had anything to do with the kidnappings.
“We say to Kenya: Did you consider the consequences of the invasion? We know fighting more than you and defeated other invaders before,” Rage said.
“Your attack to us means your skyscrapers will be destroyed, your tourism will disappear. We shall inflict on you the same damage you inflicted on us. You have to see what happened to the other aggressors, like (Uganda President Yoweri) Museveni and his country when they invaded us. We hit them in their country,” Rage said….
“The same damage?” Kenya didn’t make your “skyscrapers and tourism” disappear. Kenya didn’t destroy your cities and make them uninhabitable. You did that all by yourselves.