Somalis rally to denounce Israel raid
MOGADISHU — Somalia's Al-Qaeda-inspired Shebab militia on Friday protested against Israel's recent raid on a revered mosque compound in Jerusalem.
A crowd chanted anti-Israel slogans at the demonstration in northern Mogadishu as heavily armed Shebab militants displayed weapons and paraded a fighting unit they said was ready to defend Palestine.
"They are killing your Muslim brothers and sisters and stopping them from performing prayers in the holy sites of Allah," Sheikh Fuad Mohamed Shangole, a top Shebab official told the crowd.
"It is time to go for open war against Israel in order to drive them from the holy cities," he told the crowd which gathered after Friday prayers.
Shebab commander Abdifatah Aweys Abu-Hamsa said the fighters "are prepared to liberate and defend the holy mosque of Al-Aqsa."
Last weekend, Israeli police entered the Al-Aqsa mosque and clashed with stone-throwing Palestinian youths after Muslim leaders called on their followers to defend the site.