A video purported to be by Somalia’s al-Qaida-linked rebel group al-Shabab urged Muslims to attack shopping malls in the U.S., Canada, Britain and other Western countries.
In the video, released late Saturday, the extremist group again said its September 2013 attack on the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, was in reprisal for Kenyan military involvement in Somalia. Sixty-seven people died in the attack. The video, using footage from major news organizations, showed the assault on the mall.
The masked narrator of the 76-minute video warned of more attacks in Kenya and concluded by calling on Muslims to attack shopping malls, specifically mentioning the Mall of America in Minnesota, the West Edmonton Mall in Canada and the Westfield mall in Stratford, England.
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“Muslims also died in the Westgate attack. It’s in our interest to ensure Somalia is stabilized because the instability affects us. The video is cheap propaganda trying to re-write history and to get more support from those support them.”
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AP writers Tom Odula in Nairobi, Kenya; Jeff Baenen in Minneapolis and Thomas Strong in Washington, DC, contributed to this report.
