al Shabaab threaten to attack Kampala again

Somali militant group al Shabaab has threatened to attack Kampala again if Uganda sends more peacekeepers to Mogadishu. A senior member of the terrorist outfit, according to Shabelle News told hundreds of worshipers in a mosque in Mogadishu that President Museveni was the cause of instability in Somalia.

Sheikh Fua’d Mohammed Khalaf also asked Ugandan peacekeepers in Mogadishu to leave or face intensified attacks. “Why Somalia is not getting peace and stability is because of President Museveni. We warn the Ugandan government against deploying any troops to Somalia.”
Khalif added, “If Uganda continues, they will meet the same accident that happened on July 11, 2010 in Kampala city.”

The Islamists have claimed responsibility of the two bomb attacks in Kampala on July 11 which left 76 people dead. But the army spokesperson, Lt. Col. Felix Kulayigye, said threats would not divert Uganda’s zeal to keep peace in Somalia.

“I would advise al Shabaab to try different means because terrorist threats will not divert us from supporting our Somali brothers to have peace,” he said. Sheikh Khalaf told worshippers at a mosque in Suka-holaha, a stronghold of al Shabaab in Heliwa District, that the extra 750 troops sent to Mogadishu should withdraw.

Extra troops
Uganda recently sent the additional troops to reinforce the thin presence of the African Union peacekeepers in Mogadishu. Uganda and Burundi make a bulk of 7,000 African peacekeepers.
Lt. Col. Kulayigye said Uganda is in Somalia “out of conviction”, adding that threats will not sway them from the mission.

Three days before the deadly July 11 attacks, al Shabaab warned that they would attack Kampala—a threat they lived up to.