Somali extremists threaten Israel

Militant Islamist group says will attack Jewish state over its attempts to 'destroy parts of the al-Aqsa Mosque', CNN reports. International organization: They should be taken seriously

Ynet

Published: 11.02.09, 07:14 / Israel News

Temple Mount riots reach Somalia. A militant Islamist group affiliated with al-Qaeda has for the first time threatened to attack Israel, on the backdrop of reports that the Jewish state is carrying out excavations in east Jerusalem, the CNN network reported Sunday.

According to the report, the al-Shabab rebel group, which is fighting to control the east African country, accused Israel of "starting to destroy" the al-Aqsa Mosque.

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"The Jews started to destroy parts of the holy mosque of al-Aqsa and they routinely kill our Palestinian brothers, so we are committed to defend our Palestinian brothers," said Mukhtar Robow Abu Mansur, a prominent al-Shabab commander.

Abu Mansur's threat was part of a series of fiery sermons delivered after Friday prayers in Baidoa in southwest Somalia, CNN said. Other leaders of the group also threatened Israel, the first time the group is known to have done so.

"We will transfer and expand our fighting in the Middle East so we can defend al-Aqsa Mosque from the Israelis," al-Shabab commander Abdifatah Aweys Abu Hamza said in Mogadishu, the Somali capital.

According to the report, it is not clear whether al-Shabab has the capacity to carry out its threats against Israel, but international organizations have already warned that the group should be taken seriously.

"We should not underestimate the capacity of Al-Shabab," said Rashid Abdi of the International Crisis Group. "This is a deadly organization, a formidable foe."

Abdi said the group had been mutating from a nationalist group into a terrorist organization more like al-Qaeda. "If you look at the rhetoric and language and if you look at the websites, if you hear their preachers or their scholars speak, it is completely indistinguishable from al-Qaeda leaders," he said.

According to CNN, the US State Department Country Reports on Terrorism from April lists al-Shabab as a terrorist organization and blames it for shootings and suicide bombings inside Somalia. It does not list the group as having carried out violence outside Somalia, but says some members of the group have trained and fought alongside al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.

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