"Statement Regarding the Blessed Kampala Operations” - From the leaders of Harakat Shabaab Al-Mujahideen, Released July 14, 2010

This document is the transcript of a communiqué obtained by NEFA investigators and made available on behalf of the NEFA TerrorWatch subscription service. This transcript is provided for educational and informational purposes only. For more information on the Shabaab al-Mujahideen, see NEFA Senior Investigator Evan Kohlmann’s Special Report, “Shabaab al-Mujahideen: Migration and Jihad in the Horn of Africa" at: http://www.nefafoundation.org/miscellaneous/FeaturedDocs/nefash baabreport0509.pdf.

With the atrocities perpetrated by Uganda against the Muslim Somali population escalating, their forces, serving under the auspices of the African Union, grasp every opportunity available to unleash their anger against Islam and the Muslims by bombarding our innocent men, women, and children with mortars day and night.  Carrying on with their scheme of unsettling the stability of this country and in order to protect corrupt leaders of the apostate regime, the enmity of the crusaders has reached such a level that they bombarded the densely populated areas of the Muslims with approximately 300 mortars a day.  Families are massacred, children are orphaned, women are widowed and close to two million Muslims have been displaced, leaving behind their homes and settling in a barren land with no access to the basic facilities of life.

But despite the many warnings that were directed towards this force to end their brutal assault against our innocent population, their oppression only continued to escalate.  Whenever the Mujahideen face the invaders and resist their oppression, the Ugandan and Burundian African Union Forces immediately respond by targeting the markets and residential areas with their highly sophisticated  weapons.

We, the leaders of Harakat Shabaab Al-Mujahideen, hereby claim responsibility for the blessed operations in Kampala.  In addition, we state that these operations were carried out in order to heal the hearts of the believers and to nurse the wounds of our ailing Muslim population, which has been, for so many years, bleeding and attending funerals for its sons and daughters who’ve become victims of this cowardly shelling.

These blessed operations will, by the permission of Allah, act as a warning to all the transgressing forces to stop their atrocities against the Somali Muslim population.

Additionally, we inform the Ugandan population that what you are experiencing today is a result of the flawed policies of your government; and know that it is only a fraction of what our people go through on a daily basis and it is from justice to retaliate in equal measure.

We also inform the countries who intend to send their forces to Somalia that the fate of your soldiers will not be any better than those who came before you.  The events of Kampala are still fresh in your minds and wise is he who learns from the fate of others.

As for you Muslims of Uganda, the time has come for you to rush to the aid of your Muslim brothers in Somalia and stand together firmly in their defence.  This is an obligation of religion and creed.

Finally, we inform our brave Muslim Somali population that we will not hesitate to protect them against the oppressors whatever the cost may be and whatever the distance may be.