Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Somalia's Shebab insurgents warned Tuesday they would follow the
ongoing siege in Nairobi's Westgate shopping mall with further attacks
if Kenyan troops did not pull out of Somalia immediately."If not,
know that this is just a taste of what we will do... you should expect
black days," Shebab spokesman Ali Mohamud Rage said, speaking in Arabic
in an audio broadcast released by the extremists.
Kenyan troops
invaded southern Somalia to attack Shebab bases two years ago, joining
forces with a Somali militia warlord and wresting the key port of
Kismayo from the extremists.
Kenyan troops later joined the 17,700-strong African Union force deployed in Somalia.
"We
will make them suffer what we suffer in southern Somalia, we are giving
a warning to the Kenyan government and to all those who support it,"
Rage added.
Shebab fighters stormed the crowded Nairobi mall
midday on Saturday, tossing grenades, firing automatic weapons and
sending panicked shoppers fleeing.
At least 65 shoppers, staff and
soldiers have been killed and close to 200 wounded in the siege, but
concerns are high that the toll may rise, with the Shebab boasting about
"countless number of dead bodies still scattered inside the mall".