MOGADISHU, Somalia: Making a rare threat against the United States, a senior member of Somalia’s Islamic insurgent group that has carried out terrorist attacks abroad said Thursday that holy war will come to America and that Islam’s flag will one day fly over Washington.
The Al-Shabab fighter, who has a $5 million US bounty on his head, said in a speech broadcast on the rebels’ radio station that Al-Shabab fighters would carry out jihad, or holy war, in Kenya and Uganda “and afterward, with God’s will, to America.”
“America is waging a war in the Horn of Africa because they are responsive to the Qur’an verses saying that the Islamic flag will fly in every corner of the world,” Fuad Mohamed Khalaf, also known as Fuad Shongole, said, referring to Islam’s holy book.
US officials have long feared that any of the several dozen Somali-Americans who have left the US to join the extremist fighters could travel back to the United States to carry out terror attacks. Senior Al-Shabab leaders have rarely, if ever, publicly threatened to carry out attacks in the US.
The threat comes amid a heightening of security by the US Embassy in neighboring Kenya.
The US ambassador in Nairobi, in a letter sent to embassy employees last week, said he has requested additional Kenyan and American security personnel and is reducing the size of the embassy staff because of an increase in terrorist threats in Kenya. The letter said additional police are already patrolling around the embassy and that more assets would arrive from Washington.
US Ambassador Robert Godec called the number of recent terror attacks, threats and warnings in Kenya “deeply concerning.”
Al-Shabab carried out multiple suicide bombings in Kampala, Uganda during the 2010 World Cup final, killing 70 people. Al-Shabab gunmen in September attacked Westgate Mall in Nairobi, killing at least 67 people.
The US Embassy in Nairobi, which was relocated after Al-Qaeda’s 1998 bombing attack on both the facility and the embassy in Tanzania, killing 224 people in total, sits far off the road and is surrounded by thick walls. Armed Marines have recently begun patrolling the grounds wearing bullet-proof vests and helmets.
The US Treasury Department in 2010 imposed sanctions on Shongole, which froze any assets he had in US jurisdictions. Shongole sought asylum in Sweden in the 1990s and has Swedish citizenship. He returned to Somalia in the mid-2000s to fight with the Islamic Courts Union, a militant group that preceded Al-Shabab.
In his radio message, Shongole also threatened to launch more attacks in Kenya and Uganda. Both countries contribute troops to the African Union force waging war against Al-Shabab inside Somalia.
“We swear by the almighty Allah that we’ll move the war into Kenya, so let’s see who suffers most,” said Shongole, who spoke before a noisy crowd of supporters. “If one Somali girl is killed by their soldiers in Somalia, we shall murder their girls at home.”
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Straziuso reported from Nairobi, Kenya.
Somali extremist threatens US, Kenya with 'jihad'
Somali extremist threatens US, Kenya with 'jihad'
Tarique Rahman-led BNP set to form Bangladesh’s next government after major election win
- Jamaat-e-Islami, banned during Hasina’s government, won 68 seats
- Majority of Bangladeshis endorsed sweeping reforms in national referendum
DHAKA: The Bangladesh Nationalist Party, led by Tarique Rahman, is set to form the country’s next government after securing a more than two-thirds majority in the first elections since a student-led uprising in 2024 ousted ex-prime minister, Sheikh Hasina.
The BNP has won at least 209 seats out of the 299 contested, according to the latest election results released by the Election Commission on Friday, paving the way for Rahman to become the country’s next prime minister.
Jamaat-e-Islami, banned during Hasina’s 15 years in power, has registered its best performance yet, winning at least 68 seats and emerging as the main opposition party.
The National Citizen Party, which was born out of the 2024 protests, was in third place with six seats, including for its leader Nahid Islam, while Hasina’s Awami League was barred from participating in the elections.
The majority of Bangladeshis also reportedly voted “yes” in a national referendum on the “July National Charter” that was held alongside the general vote on Thursday.
Named after the month when the uprising that toppled Hasina began, the charter is aimed at achieving sweeping democratic reforms to prevent authoritarian administrations, including term limits for premiers, stronger presidential powers and greater judicial independence, while also proposing increased representation of women in parliament.
The BNP-led government is likely to follow the commitments made under the charter, said Prof. A.S.M. Amanullah, vice chancellor of the National University in Dhaka, adding that the implementation of the July charter was also included in the party’s election manifesto that covers reform of the state and rebuilding of the economy.
“Mr. Tarique Rahman is a highly trained politician, highly sensitive politician, and he takes decisions based on facts. I believe he prepared himself to run this country locally and play a role internationally,” Amanullah told Arab News.
Rahman is the son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and former President Ziaur Rahman. He returned to Bangladesh late last year after nearly two decades of self-imposed exile in the UK, and assumed BNP’s leadership days later, following his mother’s death from a prolonged illness.
In an interview with Arab News earlier this week, the 60-year-old pledged to pursue accountability for the former leadership and meet the political and economic expectations of the youth movement that brought about the change.
The new government is likely to be a mix of young and old politicians, Amanullah said, with Jemaat-e-Islami set to balance out the BNP’s rule.
“This is a very good size of opposition to press the issues or to challenge the government on different issues, different policies and decisions of the government. I’m hopeful about Jemaat,” he said.
“The way the people voted for these major two parties, the BNP and Jemaat, I think if they could work jointly, Bangladesh should see a stable political situation in the near future.”
Mohiuddin Ahmad, a political analyst and researcher, described Jemaat-e-Islami as “the most organized party” in Bangladesh and that it would therefore play an “instrumental” role as the opposition party.
Voter turnout averaged 59.44 percent, the EC said, with many Bangladeshis considering this week’s vote as their first “free and fair” election after more than 17 years.
“Such a result of an election we haven’t actually experienced before,” Muhiuddin Iqbal, a history student at Dhaka University, told Arab News.
“The festive feeling has not gone yet, so we’re very much excited about it and hopeful for the future.”
