MOGADISHU — Somalia’s radical Islamic Shebab group hailed Saturday the attack by a Somali on a Danish cartoonist reviled by Muslims for his drawing of their prophet Mohammed.

 

“We appreciate the incident in which a Muslim Somali boy attacked the devil who abused our prophet Mohammed and we call upon all Muslims around the world to target the people like (him),” Shebab spokesman Sheikh Ali Muhamud Rage told AFP.

“He is also suspected of being implicated in terrorist activities when he was in east Africa. The individual arrested has also been a member of a terrorist network implanted in Denmark that has been under surveillance by PET for a long time.”

Rage said for his part, “There could be some people who might say that boy was related to Shebab or other Islamic organisations, but I tell you that this incident is not something that could be related only to Shebab or other Islamic organisations.

“It is a general obligation for all Muslims to defend their religion and the prophet. He really did what was to be done by any other Muslim.”

The Al-Qaeda-inspired Shebab controls large swathes of south and central Somalia and has wrested control of much of the capital Mogadishu, where it has relentlessly attacked government and African Union forces.

On Friday the group said it would send fighters to Yemen to help an Al-Qaeda affiliate behind the failed Christmas Day US airliner bombing in its fight against government forces.

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Source: AFP

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