Saturday, June 18, 2011

Somali militants pledge support to new Qaida chief

The al-Qaida-linked Somali militant group al-Shabab has backed the appointment of Ayman al-Zawahri as the new leader of al-Qaida.
Al-Shabab spokesman Sheik Ali Mohamud Rage said in comments carried by a militant-run radio station in Mogadishu on Friday that al-Shabab is happy with the appointment of what Rage called "our brother" al-Zawahri.


Rage said al-Shabab would work with al-Zawahri like it worked with Osama bin Laden, who was killed in Pakistan by U.S. Navy SEALs last month.

Al-Shabab boasts several hundred foreign fighters _ including militant veterans of the Iraq and Pakistan conflicts _ among its ranks. Al-Qaida's leader in Somalia, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, was killed at a Mogadishu checkpoint earlier this month.

Source: The Associated Press

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