The militant group, which seeks to overthrow Somalia’s Western-backed government and impose a strict version of sharia, or Islamic law, has links to al Qaeda and has carried out attacks in Kenya and Ethiopia.
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“These attacks show AU troops are not forging relationship with locals”, he said.
Kenya said Sunday it was leading a search-and-rescue mission in southwest Somalia after al-Shabab seized an African Union Mission in Somalia base.
“They [Shabab] often sneaked into the town at night and they were well aware of the AU base”, said a journalist in the region who asked not to be named for security reasons.
He made the claim on Radio Andalus, a pro- militant station that broadcasts via the internet in the capital, Mogadishu.
“I would like to extend my honest condolences to the families of the gallant soldiers who lost their lives, and to the people and government of Kenya”.
Kenyatta has repeatedly said he would not be coerced into withdrawing Kenyan forces from Somalia, saying the troops are protecting Kenya.
The militants say the attacks are retaliation for the Kenyan military presence in Somalia and “war crimes” committed by Kenyan troops.
Military sources say the attack in El Adde was conducted in a style increasingly being used in Iraq by the ISIS terror gangs.
Despite being pushed out of Somalia’s major towns, al-Shabab continues to launch deadly guerrilla attacks across the Horn of Africa country. “We will fight them deep in their hideouts, we will smoke them out of their caves and we will follow to the end in honor of every drop of blood of our Kenyans”, he said in the Sunday statement.
A company of around 150 Kenyan soldiers was stationed at the El-Adde base.
Hence Al Shabab are launching desperate last attempts to create instability ” said the Prime Minister in his conclusion.
The Swedes fought against US-funded African Union forces in Somalia, prosecutors said.
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“The spate of extra-judicial killings carried out by the Kenyan authorities against Muslim leaders and scholars in Kenya, the systematic detention and harassment of innocent Muslims and the recent discovery of mass graves in Mandhera are all indicative”, the statement added.
