Somalia Resistance Executes Kenyan, French Detainees

Kenyan warships are bombing the southern Somalia port at Kismayo. The war in Somalia is taking place at the aegis of US imperialism., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Al Shabaab executes Kenyan, French hostages in Somalia

FEBRUARY 16, 2013
BY: JIM KOURI

Leaders from the al-Qaeda-affliate Al Shabaab in Somalia on Friday reported that they killed a Kenyan soldier who they captured during one of the terrorist group's cross-border raids. The capture and execution of the Kenyan is similar to a previous execution by the radical Islamist organization.

In January 2013, Al Shabaab terrorists killed a French hostage, Dennis Allex, only days after special forces troops from France failed in their rescue attempt, according to the French government.

France's elite French Foreign Legion using helicopters raided an Al Shabaab terrorist base in hopes of retrieving Allex, who is said to be a French security expert.

Unfortunately, the rescue operation failed to free Allex and two Legionnaires were killed.

"Harakat Al-Shabaab Al-Mujahideen has reached a unanimous decision to execute the French intelligence officer, Dennis Allex, " said Al-Shabaab.

Leaders from the brutal terrorist group said the killing of the Kenyan soldier on Friday was retaliation for Kenya's involvement with the African Union in helping the Somali military in fighting the Islamists.

During a video, Al Shabaab claims their execution of Dennis Allex was retaliation for the killing of Somali civilians by the French rescue team and for France's anti-terrorist policies including actions taken in fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan and radical Islamists affiliated with al-Qaeda in Mali.

The radical group did not say exactly when they carried out the "death sentence" imposed on the yet to be identified Kenyan hostage,

The French hostage has been in captivity since 2009 when he and a French intelligence officer were captured by the terrorists in Mogadishu. The intelligence officer and Allex were locked up separately and the intelligence officer managed to escape and elude his captors.

According to Glenn Beck's The Blaze, French President Francois Hollande said the “terrorist groups, drug traffickers and extremists show a brutality that threatens us all.” He vowed that the counterterrorism operation would last “as long as necessary.”

Somalia has not had an effective central government for more than two decades. Al Shabaab has grown stronger and more skilled in the use of propaganda while also developing greater operational capabilities.

Al Shabaab has used propaganda as both a method of reporting victories and as a tool to weaken the legitimacy of the Somali government and to improve its own legitimacy in the eyes of the civilian population, according to a report by Critical Threats.