An organization that monitors extremist groups says the Somalia-based al-Shabab claims its recent attacks are in “doubled response” to the U.S. military’s expanding efforts against it.
The SITE Intelligence Group said late Tuesday that the extremist group’s Shahada News Agency posted the statements on social media on Monday.
The al-Shabab statement says the recent attacks also are in response to President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed’s declaration of a new offensive against the extremists last week.
The statement says Sunday’s suicide car bomb attack in the capital, Mogadishu, that killed 13 and Monday’s suicide bombing at a military academy in Mogadishu that killed at least five soldiers are examples of al-Shabab’s response to the decisions by the U.S. and Somalia’s government.
The U.S. military now can pursue more aggressive airstrikes against al-Shabab.
