Al Shabaab Calls Al Qaeda for also Shabaab step up Burundi attack threats

Tanzania on alert after Nairobi blast

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DAR ES SALAAM, Dec 23 - Tanzanian police urged vigilance during the festive season after a Tanzanian citizen detonated a grenade on a bus in Nairobi, killing himself and two other people.

"We have to be very careful and avoid crowds. People should exercise utmost care, since terrorists tend to target huge crowds," Robert Manumba, director of criminal investigations, told reporters late Wednesday.

Kenyan police identified the man who set off his Russian-made grenade while boarding a Uganda-bound bus in central Nairobi Monday as Albert John Olando Mulanda, a native of the northern Tanzanian city of Mwanza.

Manumba said Tanzanian police were still trying to confirm the identity of the Nairobi bomber, pointing out that criminals often use false identification.

Kenya ramped up security measures following the blast while Uganda has been on high alert since suicide attacks claimed by Somalia's Al Qaeda-linked Shebab group killed 76 people in July.

Al Shabaab Calls Al Qaeda for Aid

<< Al Shabaab'spokesman Sheikh Ali  Mohamud Rage

(TF.SF0Mogadishu — Somalia's Al Shabaab, which US alleges to be Al Qaeda's proxy in Somalia, on Thursday demanded support and aid from Al Qaeda organization.
Speaking at a ceremony marking the unity of Al Shabaab and the destroyed Islamist group of Hizbul Islam in Mogadishu, Sheikh Ali Mohamoud Rage, the spokesman of Al Shabaab called on Jihadists in the world to come to Somalia in order to take part what he called the ongoing jihad in the horn of Africa.
Rage said Hizbul Islam and Al Shabaab merger will make the fighters to redouble attacks on what he described as Somalia's apostate government and the invading African Christians.
Sheikh Abdulfatah Mohammed Ali, former Hizbul Islam's head of information, spoke at the occasion. Ali Said Somali government and African Union peacekeepers have failed attempts in which they sthey wanted to dislodge Islamists from Mogadishu.
In the past, the group has announced its allegiance to Al Qaeda.
Officials of Hizbul Islam and Al-shabab have officially announced their unity in a ceremony held at Nasrudin mosque in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Thursday.
This announcement comes as Al-shabab forces had taken over all military bases and areas under the control of Hizbul Islam in the past few days.

Shabaab step up Burundi attack threats

Bujumbura - Burundi's security minister said on Friday that threats by Somalia's Islamist insurgents remained high in the country after several attempts to carry out attacks were recently foiled.The small central African state has deployed some 3 500 soldiers to Somalia for the African Union force protecting the country's embattled Western-backed government."The threat is very high," said Alain Guillaume Bunyoni. "We urge the population to be vigilant and report any suspicious strangers."We have already foiled several serious attempted attacks and arrested several suspects."The East African states of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania are on alert over heightened Islamist threats during the festive season after a Tanzanian man detonated a grenade Monday on a Kampala-bound bus in Nairobi.No one has claimed responsibility for the blast. Kenya and Uganda have ramped up security while Tanzania urged its citizens to be vigilant.Uganda in July suffered the region's worst attacks when suicide bombers struck two Kampala bars packed with crowds watching the World Cup final, killing 76 people.

- SAPA

 

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