The Al-Qaeda linked militant group in Somalia is planning to launch major attacks targeting western interests in retaliation for the deadly air raids by the United States that have killed fighters and leaders of the group in the horn of Africa nation in recent months, sources revealed on Thursday.
At least 150 Al-Shabaab fighters were killed in a US drone strike in Somalia in March. The Pentagon said the attack targeted a group of fighters, who were preparing to leave a training camp and who posed an “imminent threat” to American and African forces. Several leaders of the group have also killed in similar attacks by US forces in Somalia.
Quoting anonymous security sources, the Voice of America’s Somali Service reports that the militant group has marked the international airport in the capital of Mogadishu, government institutions and hotels used by foreigners and diplomats as top targets. The development comes only two days after the United States government issued a travel advisory to its citizens warning them against touring Somalia, the semi-autonomous state of Puntland and its neighboring breakaway republic of Somaliland. The US State Department cites security threat as reason for the advisory.
In recent months the United States government, whose forces have killed dozens of Al-Shabab leaders including the group’s spiritual leader Ahmed Abdi Godane in airstrikes in recent years, has heightened pressure on the Al-Shabaab terrorist group. Only recently, the American commandos carried out several joint raids alongside the Somali forces in rebel-held towns in southern Somalia. The sustained attacks have doubtlessly left Al-Shabaab militarily weak. However, the terror group is known to stage vicious retaliatory attacks — no matter how long it takes.