By Caleb Weiss |

February 22nd, 2016 | weiss.caleb2_at_gmail.com | @Weissenberg7

The emir (leader) of Shabaab in Kenya, Ahmed Iman Ali, as shown in a new video.

The leader of Al Shabaab’s local branch in Kenya threatened more violence inside the country during a recent lecture to soldiers at a training camp following last month’s attack on Kenyan troops in El Adde, Somalia. Al Shabaab is the official arm of al Qaeda in East Africa. The leader, Ahmed Iman Ali, also discussed the rationale for targeting the Kenyan troops in neighboring Somalia.

“Know for sure that disaster has struck El Adde. The Kenyans were warned again and again and again,” Ali said, according to an English translation of a video released by the al Qaeda-linked Global Islamic Media Foundation (GIMF). Ali went on to say: “Right now as I speak to you, the only thing that I bought was my turban. My gun, my pouch and my uniform are all war booty from (Kenyan troops).”

He then discussed crimes allegedly committed by the Kenyan Defense Forces (KDF) in both Kenya and Somalia.

“The first time our sister who was pregnant was thrown by the kuffar [apostates] from the third floor,” Ali said. “Another sister in the same area was also thrown from the top of a house until her spine broke. In Mandera, they came and kidnapped our mother who had five children and was their support.”

The jihadist then threatened Kenya with future attacks by saying Shabaab will force Kenya to “change their flag by erasing all the colors except the red one as an indication of the blood that we will spill in Kenya.” He concluded his threat by stating “the Kenyans immersed themselves into a war whilst they did not fully comprehend the meaning of war.”

In the video, Ali also directed his focus to the families of the killed KDF soldiers, as well. “If the family of the person owning this gun that is numbered 490 is looking for their son, let them know that I am now in possession of the war booty taken from him.” Additionally, he stated that “Any Kenyan who has lost their family members from the army that was defeated by the lions of Shabaab should contact us.”

In discussing El Adde, Ali referenced last months attack on a Kenyan base in the southern Somalian town in which over 60 KDF troops were reportedly killed. Shabaab has put the number even higher at 100 KDF troops killed. Just a few days later, the KDF withdrew from El Adde and Shabaab captured the town. [See Threat Matrix report, Shabaab releases photos from captured African Union base and LWJ report, Shabaab regains ground in southern Somalia.]

Caleb Weiss is an intern at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a contributor to The Long War Journal.