Somalia’s al-Shabaab back on Twitter

Nairobi, Sep 10, 2013, (SDN)–Somalia’s al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab insurgents returned to Twitter on Tuesday after their account last week was shut for a second time this year. The extremists, who are fighting the internationally-backed government in Mogadishu, sent an email message confirming that @HSM_Press was their new English-language account. It welcomed followers by accusing “disbelievers” of wanting to extinguish “Allah’s Light with their mouths”. Their previous account was closed after the group used the site to claim they had ambushed the convoy of Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.

“Next time, you won’t be as lucky,” the Islamists tweeted after their attack, which the president escaped unharmed.

Twitter warns that accounts can be suspended if users publish “direct, specific threats of violence against others”.

The Shabaab used its old account to repeatedly boast of the deaths caused by a string of bomb attacks.

Source: AFP