A Somali Islamist militia linked to al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for twin bombings in Uganda that killed 74 people gathered to watch the World Cup final on TV. Both blasts targeted areas popular with foreigners, and one of the dead, charity worker Nate Henn, was an American. If this was really the handiwork of al Shabab, this would be the group's first attack outside Somalia's borders. Is this a sign that Somalia has become a haven for terrorists the way Afghanistan was under the Taliban, and that more attacks are to come? (Watch an al Jazeera report about the twin bombings)
Al Qaeda has a new partner in jihad: One of al Shabab's motives was its determination to drive Uganda's African Union troops out of Somalia, say the editors of Investors Business Daily, but another was "its Talibanic hatred of soccer, music, drinking, and all 'unnecessary fun'" common in non-fundamentalist cultures. If al Shabab succeeds in driving foreign troops out of Somalia, it will get the "failed state" it needs to create a "safe haven" for its jihadists. The stakes in the terror war have just been raised.
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