NEFA Foundation: Text of Shabaab Response to U.S. Airstrike on Al-Qaida Suspect Saleh Nabhan
By Evan Kohlmann
The NEFA Foundation has obtained and translated a new communiqué from the Shabaab al-Mujahideen Movement in Somalia celebrating the “martyrdom” of 1998 Embassy bombing suspect Saleh Ali Nabhan, who was killed in a U.S. helicopter strike south of Mogadishu. According to the statement, “In the attack, six helicopters participated and began firing heavily and in a concentrated manner, and targeted the brothers' car. One of the jets carried a quick landing believing that they have killed the brothers, but the lions, despite their small number and basic weapons, were able, with Allah's grace, to respond against the enemy and resisted, and a fight took place that lasted almost an hour, until four more helicopters intervened to back the first, and Allah willed for sheikh commander Abu Yousef to fall a martyr with a group of his companions.” Shabaab warned, “you will discover that soon enough as the blood of the commander and his companions…will not go wasted, and the infidels will discover whom the hereafter is for.”
The English translation of the Shabaab communique can be downloaded from the NEFA Foundation website.
