Nairobi - Somalia's al-Shabaab 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,” al-Shabaab spokesman Ali Mohamud Rage said, speaking in Arabic in an audio broadcast released by the extremists.
Kenyan troops invaded southern Somalia to attack al-Shabaab 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.
Al-Shabaab 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 al-Shabaab boasting about “countless number of dead bodies still scattered inside the mall”.
Sapa-AFP