20100122
press tv

The leader of al-Shabab fighters in Somalia has threatened to attack Kenya following a crackdown on Somali nationals in Nairobi.

In a recording posted on the internet on Thursday, Ahmed Abdi Godane, also known as Sheik Mukhtar Abdirahman Abu Zubeyr, threatened the Kenyan government that the fighters will enter Kenya.

"We hit until we kill. We have the weapons," he said, Reuters reported.

Anger has been rising in Somalia since last week, when hundreds of Somali nationals were detained after a violent protest in Nairobi over the detention of Jamaican Muslim cleric Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal in Britain.

Al-Shabab fighters' threats to attack Kenya is not a new phenomenon; however, this time they said that "we will not retreat."

Al-Shabab fighters are the military off-shoot of the Council of Islamic Courts. They have been fighting the Somali government troops and African Union peacekeepers in and around the Somali capital of Mogadishu.

Council of Islamic Courts came to power in 2006 after defeating Somali warlords. It was, however, removed from power in 2007 through an Ethiopian invasion, which was aided by the United States.