Somalia

Al Shebab insurgents threaten Uganda and Burundi

Article published on the 2009-10-23 Latest update 2009-10-23 07:04 TU

A man is stretchered to hospital after Thursday’s shelling in Mogadishu
(Photo : Reuters/Omar Faruk)

Al Shebab insurgents in Somalia have threatened to attack the capitals of Burundi and Uganda in revenge for rocket attacks by peacekeepers from those countries that killed at least 30 people in Mogadishu.

"We shall make their people cry. We'll attack Bujumbura and Kampala ... We will move our fighting to those two cities and we shall destroy them," Sheikh Ali Mohamed Hussein, a senior al Shebab commander, told reporters late on Thursday in Mogadishu.

On Thursday, African Union peacekeepers from Burundi and Uganda fired at least 35 rockets and mortar shells into Mogadishu's Bakara market area, where al Shebab gunmen were firing artillery at President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed's plane.