International
10 camel ‘bounty’ put on Obama’s head
10 camel ‘bounty’ put on Obama’s head
| Designers of a prototype robot that can detect and disarm improvised explosive devices (IED) control it remotely at Makerere University’s College of Engineering, Design Art and Telecommunication in Kampala, Uganda. The robot is remotely controlled by a computer and can navigate a flat surface of up to 20m radius. The development comes in the wake of continuous terrorist threats as a result of the country’s contribution of forces to the African Union peace keeping mission in Somalia |
Somalia’s Al-Qaeda-allied Shebaab rebels yesterday mocked a US offer of up to $33mn for tip-offs enabling the arrest of its top leaders, saying they would give 10 camels to anyone who helped locate Barack Obama. The highest price put up by the US State Department on Thursday was for Shebaab chief Ahmed Abdi aw-Mohamed - more commonly known as Godane or Abu Zubayr - with a $7mn bounty for information on where he is hiding. “I can assure you that these kind of things will never dissuade us from continuing the holy war against them,” said another senior Shebaab leader, Fuad Mohamed Khalaf, or ‘Shongole’, in a message carried on several websites. “There is nothing new in the fact that infidels pay to have Muslim leaders killed. They already did that by offering camels for the head of Prophet Muhammad, and the dollar is the camel of today,” he said. He was referring to an offer of 100 camels made for the Prophet when he was fleeing Makkah for Madina, according to the Holy Qur’an. Khalaf added: “Whoever informs the mujahideen fighters of the place where Obama can be found will get 10 camels and for (US Secretary of State Hillary) Clinton, we will offer 10 roosters and 10 hens.” The State Department said in a statement announcing the bounty for seven Shebaab leaders that “the group is responsible for the killing of thousands of Somali civilians, Somali peace activists, international aid workers, journalists and African Union peacekeepers”. The Shebaab still control large parts of southern Somalia, but African Union troops, government forces and Ethiopian soldiers have clawed back several key bases from the insurgents in recent months.