Saturday September 6, 2014
MOGADISHU-Somalia's government warned on Saturday that the country's Al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab rebels were planning a wave of retaliatory attacks after it was confirmed their leader was killed earlier this week in a United States air strike.
"Security agencies have obtained information indicating that Al-Shabaab is now planning to carry out desperate attacks against medical facilities, education centres and other government facilities. The security forces are ready to counter their attacks and we call on people to help the security forces in standing against violent acts," National Security Minister Kalif Ahmed Ereg told reporters.
The US said on Friday that it had killed the chief of the Shabaab militants in a bombing raid in Somalia, touting it as a model for an assault on Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) jihadists. The Pentagon confirmed that Ahmed Abdi Godane perished in the attack on Monday in which US drones and manned aircraft rained Hellfire missiles and laser-guided bombs on a gathering of Shabaab commanders.
Godane had boasted that Shabaab was behind the siege at the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi last year, which killed at least 67 shoppers, staff and security personnel.