23 Sep 2009

Somalia's al-Shabaab group has publicly announced its loyalty to al-Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden, in a video documentary released recently.

An al-Shabaab official in Mogadishu confirmed the authenticity of the 48-minute film--released for the Eid al-Fitr feast marking the end of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, AFP reported.

Entitled 'Labaik ya Osama' (At your service, Osama), the video was posted on Islamist Internet forums in recent days and is presented as a 'gift to the lions of Tawheed (belief in the oneness of Allah) and the Muslims everywhere'.

Al-Shabaab fighters distributed the video in several Mogadishu neighborhoods, including in Suqaholaha, where a public screening was also organized following the Eid prayers.

The group is fighting to overthrow a fragile western-backed transitional government in the Horn of Africa country.

The video opens with an artistic animation of whirling flower tendrils and text in English and Arabic paying tribute to the mujahedeen (holy warriors) in Palestine and the Arabian Peninsula, as well as the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"Receive glad tidings and rejoice, and we are awaiting your guidance in this advanced stage of jihad," the voice of top al-Shabaab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane (also known as Abu Zubayr) tells bin Laden in the video.

presstv