'We'll fight enemies of Allah'
2006-11-03 11:22
Mogadishu - Somalia's powerful Islamic movement on Friday denied United States allegations that its supreme leader had authorised suicide attacks in neighbouring Kenya and Ethiopia.
The Islamists, some of whom were suspected of links with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, said the "baseless warning" from Washington was part of a pro-Zionist, Israeli propaganda aimed at destabilising the Muslim world.
Sheikh Mukhtar Robow, the Islamists' deputy defence chief, said: "We know that America never favours Islamic movements anywhere in the world and such statements are part of a incorrect Zionist-inherited ideology.
"Islam does not harm people. The warnings issued by the American embassy issued are baseless and we never attack neighbouring countries."
US embassies warn of suicide attacks
Robow said: "America misleads its own people by giving such baseless warnings, but we will never falter because we stand ready to defend our religion and people from the enemy of Allah."
On Thursday, the US embassies in Nairobi and Addis Ababa warned of the threat of suicide attacks against "prominent" targets in Kenya and Ethiopia and urged Americans to use "extreme caution" in the two countries.
They said: "These threats specifically mention the execution of suicide explosions in prominent landmarks within Kenya and Ethiopia."
Embassy officials said the warning was prompted by postings on Somali websites purported to come from Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, the Islamists' supreme leader, in which he authorised suicide attacks in Kenya and Ethiopia.
Aweys, a hardline cleric designated a "terrorist" by the US for alleged al-Qaeda ties, could not be reached for comment about the statements attributed to him.
Deadly 1998 bombings
He had in the past denied any connection to terrorism and rejected US accusations that the Islamists were harbouring al-Qaeda suspects wanted for the deadly 1998 bombings of its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
The US warning came as the Islamists had declared "jihad", or holy war, on neighbouring Ethiopia for allegedly sending thousands of troops to Somalia to back the country's weak government and accused Kenya of siding with Ethiopia.
It also came as the Islamists and the government girded for war after the collapse of peace talks in Khartoum this week.
Both Kenya and Ethiopia favoured the deployment of regional peacekeepers - vehemently opposed by the Islamists - to help the government, whose limited authority was increasingly threatened.
Earlier this year, a covert US programme to support Somali warlords battling the Islamists for control of Mogadishu failed disastrously when the capital fell in June after months of fierce fighting.
The Islamists had since rapidly expanded their territory to include most of southern and central Somalia, where they had imposed strict Sharia law, fuelling concern of a Taliban-style takeover of the lawless country.