Somalia's Al-Shabaab Islamists have threatened to welcome with bullets British soldiers due to be deployed in support of an African Union force.
These threats by the highly dreaded Shebab Islamists are coming at a time when British soldiers are due to be deployed in support of an African Union force.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said last month that up to 70 troops would be sent to Somalia to support soldiers of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) without giving a date.
“We have been getting media information that the Christian government of Britain is sending forces to Somalia to strengthen the invading infidel forces already on the ground,” said Shebab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage late Tuesday on an Islamist radio station.
“They will not make any difference,” he said.
“Our ancestors fought the British colonialists before and we will take the same path. They will be welcomed with bullets…God willing their beheaded bodies strewn around the streets will be shown (on jihadist websites).”
The Shebab, East Africa’s Al-Qaeda branch, is fighting to overthrow the internationally-backed government in Mogadishu which is protected by 22,000 AMISOM troops.