Hindi, Gamba Attacks: Al Shabaab Claims Credit

[Onyango Oloo]

somalimemo.net/articles/326/D

Sh.Cali Dheere "Mujaahidiintu Waxay Lawareegeen in kabadan 5 Deegaanno oo Kenya Katirsan Tobaneeyo qofna way ku dileen"Dhageyso
Sunday July 06, 2014 - 13:41:00 in Wararka by Super Admin


Burbur ka dhashay Weerarkii Mkepetoni
Xarakada Shabaabul Mujaahidiin ayaa faah faahin dheeri ah ka bixisay weeraro xalay ka dhacay degmooyin katirsan wadanka Kenya.

Sheekh Cali Maxamuud Raage Sheekh Cali Dheere Afhayeenka Al Shabaab oo shir Jaraa’id qabtay ayaa sheegay in ciidankoodu dad badan ku laayeen gudaha wadanka Kenya kadib markii ay xalay weeraro qorshaysan ku qaadeen tuulooyin iyo deegaanno.

Mas’uulkan ayaa shirkiisa Jaraa’id ku sheegay in ciidanka mujaahidiinta ay xalay weerareen magaalada Hindi oo katirsan gobolka Xeebta Lamu iyo afar tuulo oo hoos yimaad gobolka Antanariifa.


Xarakada Al Shabaab waxay sheegtay in weeraradan ay ku dileen inkabadan 30 qof oo Nasaara ah ayna kamid yihiin askar iyo saraakiil booliska Kenya katirsan sidoo kalane ay kusoo furteen maxaabiis muslimiinta Kenya katirsan oo si gardarra ah xabsiyada dowladda Kenya ugu xirnaa.

Warkan kasoo baxay Al Shabaab ayaa lagu xaqiijiyay in weeraradan ay jawaab celin u yihiin gummaadkii ciidana Kenya ka geysteen gobollada Gedo iyo Jubbooyinka iyo culimadii lagu laayay gobolka Xeebta dhaca ee Mombaasa.

Weeraradan shabaabul Mujaahidiin ay markale ku qaadday wadanka Kenya ayaa kusoo aadaya xilli ciidanka gumeysiga Kenya ay wali duullaan ku joogaan gobollo dhaca Koonfur galbeed Soomaaliya.

Halkan ka degso Shirka Jaraa'id Ee Sheekh Cali dheere MP3

af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFKBN0FB05P20140706?sp=true

Gunmen kill at least 29 in latest raids on Kenyan coast

Sun Jul 6, 2014 1:15pm GMT


By Joseph Akwiri

MOMBASA Kenya (Reuters) - Gunmen killed at least 29 people in raids on two coastal areas of Kenya, the latest in a series of attacks claimed by Somali Islamists who have vowed to drive Kenyan forces out of Somalia, although a police officer cast doubt on their role.

The Interior Ministry said one attack killed nine in the trading town of Hindi in Lamu County, the same district where about 65 people were killed by gunmen last month. Another was further south in the Gamba area, where 20 died.

"They went around shooting at people and villages indiscriminately," said Abdallah Shahasi, a senior official for the Hindi area, which lies near the old trading port of Lamu and Mpeketoni town, where gunmen launched raids in mid-June.

Sheikh Abdiasis abu Musab, spokesman for al Shabaab's military operations, told Reuters in Mogadishu that the Somalia-based group was behind both attacks on Saturday night. It had also said it was responsible for the June raids in Lamu County, around Mpeketoni.

But President Uhuru Kenyatta dismissed al Shabaab's claim last month and blamed local politicians, stoking an already fierce row with the opposition, which denied any role.

Regardless of who is blamed this time, Saturday's raids will hammer an already beleaguered tourist industry that has been hit by a wave of militant attacks and will deepen public frustrations about poor security in Kenya a day before a big opposition rally is planned for the capital.

In a news conference on initial findings, police deputy inspector general Grace Kaindi said a blackboard, ripped out of a school, was found at a junction near Hindi with scrawling that could implicate the coastal separatist group, the Mombasa Republic Movement (MRC). She said investigations were ongoing.

"At first we thought it was al Shabaab, but now it is turning out that it is MRC as they have put it there clearly,” she said, adding that other slogans appeared to back opposition leader Raila Odinga.

She said scribbled phrases included "MRC - You are sleeping," "Muslims your land is being grabbed", "Raila is adequate" and "Uhuru down".

FREEING DETAINEES

The MRC swiftly denied any role. "The government should stop using us as a scapegoat," Randu Nzai Ruwa, the MRC Secretary General, told Reuters by telephone.

Al Shabaab, which attacked Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi last year killing 67 people, said it had broken into the police station at Gamba and freed suspects from detention cells.

A police source corroborated that Gamba account, saying the numbers for those released was still being checked. Gamba lies in Tana River County, which neighbours Lamu County.

"They killed some of our colleagues and freed Muslim detainees," the source told Reuters. "Some of those freed were linked to the Mpeketoni attacks two weeks ago."

Lamu County Commissioner Miiri Njenga said attackers hit government offices. Police said a church was also burnt.

Attacks on the coast have fanned an already tense political atmosphere in Kenya, which has sent troops to join African troops battling al Shabaab in neighbouring Somalia.

Veteran opposition leader Odinga, defeated by Kenyatta in last year's presidential election, has held a series of rallies over the past month criticising the government over frequent militant attacks, corruption, a slow economy and other issues.

Kenyatta stepped into an already heated debate by accusing local politicians of being behind strikes on Mpeketoni. Opponents saw his statement as fingering Odinga.

Odinga has promised a rally on Monday in Nairobi, calling for people to take the day off work. The government said public workers who stay away from work will face disciplinary action.

Religious leaders have urged Kenyans to avoid rallies that could deepen divisions in a nation scarred by political violence in the recent past. Political allegiances in Kenya tend to follow ethnic lines. Police have promised tight security.

The nation is haunted by the 2007 presidential election, when 1,200 died in weeks of ethnic blood-letting - over which Kenyatta still faces trial at The Hague this year for crimes against humanity. However, last year's vote went off calmly.

(Additional reporting by Feisal Omar in Mogadishu; Writing by Duncan Miriri and Edmund Blair; Editing by William Hardy and Stephen Powell)

© Thomson Reuters 2014 All rights reserved

[Onyango Oloo]

www.bangkokpost.com/news/world/419158/at-least-21-killed-in-new-attacks-in-kenyan-coastal-region

At least 21 killed in new attacks in Kenyan coastal region


At least 21 people have been killed in new attacks in Kenya's Lamu coastal region, the area where some 60 people were massacred last month, Kenyan authorities said Sunday.


A spokesman for Somalia's Shebab rebels claimed that the Al-Qaeda-linked group's fighters had struck again in Kenya, although police blamed the Mombasa Republican Council (MRC), a group that campaigns for independence of the coastal region.

In a separate incident, a Russian tourist was shot dead in the port city of Mombasa further south, which the police blamed on common "thuggery" -- explaining the woman had resisted an attempt to steal her camera.

Police said the attacks late on Saturday near Lamu, carried out in the trading post of Hindi and the town of Gamba, left 21 people dead, while the Kenyan Red Cross said it had confirmed 22 deaths.

"We had attacks at night where people were killed and houses destroyed. We have mobilised our officers and we are on the ground," said Robert Kitur, a senior Lamu police official.

Police said unidentified gunmen also torched several houses and attacked Gamba's police station, freeing a suspect held over the attacks last month in the region. One policeman was among the dead, officials said.

"Preliminary investigation shows the attack was carried out by MRC members," Kaindi told a press conference at the police headquarters. "There is also evidence that the attacks are motivated by political and religious issues."

An AFP reporter in Hindi said all the dead in the town were men, apart from a teenage boy, who was reportedly shot as he tried to run away. The attackers also left messages scribbled in English and Swahili on a blackboard taken from a school.

"You invade Muslim country and you want to stay in peace," one message stated.

Resident Elizabeth Opindo said she had actually spoken to the attackers, who torched her home but let her live, saying they did not kill women. She said there were about 10 attackers, speaking a mix of English, Swahili and Somali, all common Kenyan languages.

"They said they were attacking because Muslims' lands were being taken," she told AFP.

- Tourist murdered -

In a statement issued just hours after the violence, Somalia's Shebab rebels said they were responsible.

"The attackers came back home safely to their base," Shebab military spokesman Abdulaziz Abu Musab said, adding the militants had killed 10 people.

The Shebab also claimed responsibility for last month's attack at Mpeketoni, saying it was in retaliation for Kenya's military presence in Somalia as part of the African Union force supporting the country's fragile and internationally-backed government.

Survivors of the previous massacres reported how gunmen speaking Somali and carrying Shebab flags killed non-Muslims in revenge for Kenya's presence in Somalia.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, however, denied that the Shebab were involved and instead blamed "local political networks" and criminal gangs, saying victims had been singled out because of their ethnicity.

Mpeketoni is a mainly Christian settlement in the Muslim-majority coastal region, which was settled decades ago by the Kikuyu people from central Kenya, the same tribe as Kenyatta.

Police also arrested alleged MRC members as well as the opposition-affiliated governor of Lamu county in the wake of the Mpeketoni attack. Lamu island is a well-known tourist destination whose ancient architecture is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The unrest in the coastal region has already badly dented Kenya's tourist industry -- a key foreign currency earner and massive employer for the country -- at one of its traditionally busiest times of the year.

In a further blow to the sector, a Russian tourist was murdered on Saturday in Mombasa while touring Fort Jesus -- a 16th century Portuguese-built fort and another UNESCO World Heritage Site -- in what police said was a violent robbery.

"We are treating the incident as a normal thuggery incident," deputy police chief Kaindi told reporters.

Last month the Shebab, which has carried out a number of attacks on Kenyan soil in retaliation for Nairobi's military intervention in Somalia, warned foreign tourists to stay out of Kenya.

"Kenya is now officially a war zone and as such any tourists visiting the country do so at their own peril," the group said in a statement less than three weeks ago.

[Onyango Oloo]

Other reports:

voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_07_06/Somali-radical-Islamist-group-claims-responsibility-for-Kenya-attacks-0915/

www.theepochtimes.com/n3/790058-red-cross-22-dead-in-attacks-on-kenyan-coast/

www.newvision.co.ug/news/657244-deadly-new-attacks-in-kenyan-coastal-region.html