AU and moderate Islamists warn of planned terrorist attacks

Al-Shabaab militants in Somalia.

08:20 GMT, April 2, 2010 defpro.com | The African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and the none-militant Somali Islamists Ahlu Sunna wal Jama'a, which has ties with Somali government, have warned of simultaneous terrorist attacks by al-Shabaab militants in Mogadishu and in some neighbouring states including Kenya and Djibouti.

The spokesman for the moderate Islamist group, Sheik Abdullahi Sheik Abdurahman Abu Yusuf, said in a press conference in the central Somali town of Dhusamareeb late Thursday that his intelligence services have gained reliable information that al-Shabaab are in the final preparations of planned terror attacks which will be carried out in the near future.

“The information we have is very serious and the attacks are planned to be carried out in the sea ports of Mogadishu, Bosasso, Mombassa, Djibouti, Aden and Nairobi’s Wilson airport” the spokesman stated.

“The attacks will be carried out from hijacked boats and the small planes that import Qad (the green narcotic leaf) from Kenya to the terrorist-administered Kilometer fifty airport in the southern Somali Lower Shabelle region” he added.

Meanwhile, the AMISOM spokesman in Mogadishu, Major Brigye Ba-hoku, said that they are fully aware of the planned terror attacks by the Islamist rebels of al-Shabaab which intended to jeopardise security in the region.

“They have many times in the past tried to use boats to attack Mogadishu sea port but failed. And now they are once again preparing terror attacks by using hijacked commercial boats. That is what we know and we will prevent it,” Major Ba-hoku said in an interview with the state-run Radio Mogadishu.

Last month at least nine commercial boats, which were carrying goods to Mogadishu, were hijacked by Somali pirates. The moderate Islamist spokesman confirmed that some of the boats are in the hands of al-Shabaab or buccaneers related to them, although al-Shabaab themselves condemn the act of hijacking boats carrying supplies for Somalia’s vulnerable people.

The moderate Islamist spokesman called on the governments of Somalia, Kenya, Djibouti and Yemen to be more vigilant of the imminent terrorist attacks by al-Shabaab, the Al-Qaeda proxy in Somalia which has already carried out many suicide attacks in the country.

“They want to cause heavy damages on the region’ security and economical sources at the same time,” the spokesman for the Somali none-militant Islamists said in his press conference on Thursday in the city of Dhusamareeb, about 550 kilometres north of the capital.


----
By Shafi’i Mohyaddin Abokar
Special Correspondent for Somalia