Al-Qaeda-linked militants in Somalia claimed Friday that they have executed a Kenyan soldier after the Nairobi government failed to meet their demands.<\/p>\n
The Islamic extremist rebels of al-Shabab said in a statement Friday that they executed an army private after deadline expired Thursday. The militants want the release of all “Muslim prisoners being held on so-called terrorism charges in Kenya.”<\/p>\n
Al-Shabab threatened to execute the five remaining Kenyan hostages in 72 hours if the Muslim prisoners are not released.<\/p>\n
“While the Mujahideen have executed the serving KDF (Kenya Defense Forces) soldier, there is still a chance of securing the release of the remaining 5 prisoners. As a response to the growing pleas of the prisoners’ families who have contacted us, HSM (al-Shabab) is adding a grace period of 72 hours,” the statement said.<\/p>\n
Al-Shabab said the Kenyan government does not value the lives of Kenyan citizens because it had not taken the opportunity to negotiate for the lives of the hostages.<\/p>\n
Kenya has said it will not negotiate with terrorists.
\n“We cannot negotiate with terrorists … we want to rescue the hostages or have al-Shabab surrender them unconditionally,” said military spokesman Col. Cyrus Oguna.<\/p>\n
Oguna said the Kenyan army cannot confirm al-Shabab’s claim that the rebels executed the soldier in their custody.<\/p>\n
Kenya has suffered a spate of gun and explosive attacks since it deployed troops to Somalia to fight the militants in October 2011. This move came after cross-border attacks blamed on the militants.<\/p>\n
Twitter on Jan 25 suspended the account used by al-Shabab after the insurgents used the micro-blogging site to announce a death threat against Kenyan hostages. Twitter’s terms of service says it does not allow specific threats of violence against others in its posts.<\/p>\n
Al-Shabab uses Twitter mainly to make claims of enemy kills and to spread its view of events in Somalia and East Africa. Terrorism analysts believe the account is run by a Western-educated person; al-Shabab claims several dozen American and Britons among its ranks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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