UPDATE 2: An individual from the forums has translated Shaykh Mukhtar Abū az-Zubayr message:
“And those who, when great wrong afflicts them, defend themselves” Sura Alshura/39
Allah most Gracious And High described the believers that they are against injustice and avengers from the ones who assaults them.
The so called “AMISOM” in Mogadishu committed bloody massacres worst than ones committed by their predecessors the Ethiopians and Americans. The cannons are constantly targeting the civilians, the tanks leveled to the ground the buildings of Mogadishu, and the machine guns are targeting civilian transportation, all this has become a habit known by the “AMISOM”.
We say to Islamic Ummah in general, and in particular to the people of Mogadishu: inshallah, we will revenge all who were martyred by the AMISOM guns, and what happened in Kampala is only the beginning.
Secondly, we congratulate the brigade of Shaheed Salih Alnabhan who were blessed by execution of the operation in Mogadishu, and we say to them: “These faces are of success, and may Allah reward you on behave of us, and Islam and Muslims.
And finally, we say a message to Mosifini, the leader of the massacres committed against our people:
“Poetry in Swahili”
UPDATE: al-Shabāb released an audio recording of its leader, Shaykh Mukhtar Abū az-Zubayr, regarding the recent bombings in Uganda. Here is a link to the audio in Arabic and Swahili: https://bit.ly/aZdcEG. Here are some highlights of the audio message courtesy of Evan Kohlmann:
“We would like to congratulate the Martyr Saleh Nabhan Brigade which graciously fulfilled the mission [in Kampala].”
“I say to the Ugandan president that what has happened in Kampala was only the beginning. Our revenge will continue.”
Also, check out Michael Scheuer’s, former CIA analyst, thoughts on the al-Shabāb bombings over at his website Non-Intervention.
—
NOTE: For more on the al-Shabāb bombings in Uganda, see the following analyses: Leah Farrall of All Things Counterterrorism (https://bit.ly/agwfgc), Christopher Harnisch of AEI’s Critical Threats Project (https://bit.ly/agnurS) and Daveed Gartenstein-Ross of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (https://bit.ly/av5up7). Due to al-Shabāb password-protecting the document, I cannot upload it to Scribd, though, there is a safe PDF file you can download below. The statement is in English.
—
Statement Regarding the Blessed Kampala operations