Extremists chanting anti-Western slogans ordered people to attend the rallies Gun-toting Shebab insurgents staged rallies across Somalia Monday to celebrate their group’s recognition by Osama bin Laden’s successor as a member of the Islamist Al Qaeda network. “The unification of al-Shebab with al-Qaeda breaks the hearts of the enemy,” Shebab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage told a crowd of several hundred in rebel-held Afgoye, just outside Somalia’s war-torn capital Mogadishu. Extremists chanting anti-Western slogans ordered people to attend the rallies, witnesses said. “At least 600 people gathered carrying placards supporting the unification of the two groups ─ people chanted Allahu Akbar (God is great)” said Abdikarin Adan, a witness. “Businesses were shut after Shebab fighters in cars with loudspeakers ordered people to attend the demonstration,” said Mohamed Sufi, another witness. Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri announced in a video message posted on jihadist forums last week that Shebab fighters had joined ranks with the Islamist network. Shebab insurgents, fighting to overthrow the weak Western-backed government in the war-torn Horn of Africa country, proclaimed their allegiance to then al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in 2009. “Mujahideen fighters worldwide, I promise you that the unification is a sign of the return of the Islamic caliphate worldwide,” Rage added. Several demonstrations also took place across Shebab-held southern Somalia including the port city of Merka, where the extremist gunmen ordered people to shut down businesses to attend the rally.
