MOMBASA, Kenya, April 1 (Reuters) - Kenya promised on Sunday to hunt down
Somalia-based al Shabaab rebels following two blasts which killed one person
and injured 31 in the coastal city of Mombasa, but stopped short of blaming
the Islamist militant group outright.
Al Shabaab has staged attacks in Kenya since Nairobi sent troops into
Somalia last October to pursue the group. However, Saturday's blasts were
the first to target Mombasa, one of Kenya's top tourist destinations, and
were staged just before the busy Easter tourist season in the coming week.
"We will not tire of hunting for these people (al Shabaab) until we finish
them. They have ruined their country and now they have come here to ruin
Kenya's economy," Internal Security Minister George Saitoti told reporters
while visiting the scenes of the explosions.
Regional police commander Aggrey Adoli said al Shabaab was one line of
inquiry, but not the only one. "Investigations are going on. Al Shabaab is
among those being investigated," Adoli told Reuters.
Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who accompanied Saitoti, tried to reassure
foreign visitors after the explosions whose victims were all Kenyans. "Kenya
is safe. No one should threaten tourists. They should continue coming to
Kenya and the government will protect them," he said.
A senior regional administration official told Reuters that makeshift bombs
were used in the near-simultaneous attacks at an open air Christian meeting
and a packed bar.
"These were what are known as Improvised Explosive Devices but
investigations are still going on to establish exactly what type of IEDs,"
said Ernest Munyi, provincial commissioner for the coastal region.
Al Shabaab issued a statement that also fell short of claiming
responsibility for the attacks, saying that Kenya's security depended on its
military activities in Somalia.
"The more Kenyan troops continue to persecute innocent Muslims of Somalia,
the less secure Kenyan cities will be; and the more oppression the Muslims
of Somalia feel, the more constricted Kenyan life will be," it said.
Saitoti vowed that Kenya would chase members of al Shabaab, an al
Qaeda-aligned group which controls large parts of Somalia, wherever they may
hide to protect its people and economy.
The Kenyan military moved into south Somalia after two separate attacks on
tourists in resorts on its northern coast.
Saturday's attacks created fears that the tourism business, one of the
nation's big three hard currency earners, could be hit by cancellations
during the Easter season. (Writing by Duncan Miriri; editing by David Stamp)
C Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved
By Abdi Sheikh
MOGADISHU, April 1 (Reuters) - A senior al Shabaab figure has openly
disagreed with the Somali militant group's leader, in a sign of growing
internal divisions that residents fear could lead to violence.
The al Qaeda-aligned group wants to remove the Transitional Federal
Government (TFG) of President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed to impose a strict version
of Sharia or Islamic law. They control large areas of south and central
Somalia.
Sheikh Muktar Abu Zubeir, who has led al Shabaab since 2008, said in a
statement last week that no other armed or unarmed Islamist group could be
created in the country.
But another senior figure told a local radio station that Muslims could
carry out Jihad in as many groups as they pleased.
"No one can limit Jihad to himself. It is better to have many Islamic groups
and then unite later. This is how we have been carrying out for the last two
decades," Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, who merged his Hizbul rebel group with
al Shabaab in 2010, told Radio Shabelle late on Saturday.
"We are in al Shabaab but its operation is very wrong, we should correct
it... al Shabaab and al Qaeda do not represent the Muslim world, they are
only part of it."
Al Shabaab officials declined to respond to the comments by Aweys.
Under intense pressure from African Union (AMISOM) and Somali government
troops, the group has been hit by sharp internal differences over ideology
and strategy.
An influential American fighter known as Omar Hamami or Abu Mansour
al-Amriki said last month his life was in danger due to disagreements with
fellow fighters over Islamic law and strategy.
Aweys' comments followed a string of losses for al Shabaab to AMISOM and the
TFG. In recent weeks, they have lost key towns, bases and even regional
capitals in central Somalia.
Last Friday, both sides engaged in pitched battles as AMISOM tried to
dislodge the Islamists from Mogadishu's Daynile district, the rebels' last
position after they withdrew from the capital last year.
Al Shabaab managed to repel the attack in some positions like the airstrip
at Daynile, although they lost some ground.
AMISOM is keen to take Daynile so it can launch an offensive against the
nearby towns like Elashe, Lafole and Afgoi, where many senior al Shabaab
leaders live.
Residents fled from those towns on Sunday morning, fearing that AMISOM might
strike soon, or the row between al Shabaab's leaders could turn violent.
(Additional reporting by Feisal Omar; Writing by Duncan Miriri; editing by
Anna Willard)
C Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved
----[Mailing List for Eritrea Related News ]----
Received on Sun Apr 01 2012 - 17:33:15 EDT
