On Sunday, a leader of the Islamists' military wing announced plans to intensify its offensive against government troops and their Ethiopian allies. In his first comments to Reuters since going into hiding a year ago, Muktar Ali Robow said al-Shabab had killed nearly 500 Ethiopian soldiers and would fight until foreign troops left the Horn of Africa country. "We are now planning to launch the most enormous attacks on the government and Ethiopian main positions. We will allow no foreign forces in our land," Robow said in a telephone interview.
| Being not quite brave enough to hold a press conference out in the open ... |
"We have raided the enemies' military bases showering them with mortar shells."
| Some of which might have actually hit something ... |
Robow did not give away his location, but said he was in the southern Bay province of Somalia.
| On the beach sipping a cold one and staring at the pretty burqas .... |
Also known as "Abu Mansoor", Robow was the Islamic Courts' deputy defence secretary before the movement that ruled Mogadishu and most of south Somalia for six months was ousted by allied Somali-Ethiopian forces in the New Year. His al-Shabab has since spearheaded an Iraq-style terrorist insurgency, waging near-daily roadside bombings, grenade attacks and shootings against government and Ethiopian positions. The conflict has killed 6,000 civilians this year and forced hundreds of thousands to abandon their homes and livelihoods.
Robow urged Hussein to quit and said his group's intention was to rule Somalia by sharia law. "When we force Ethiopia to withdraw its troops from our country, its traitors will follow and the people will be able to embrace an Islamic government," he said.
| "Run by holy men! Holy men with turbans and automatic weapons!" |
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