Somalia's Shebab miliants claim Uganda bombings

KAMPALA — Somalia's Al-Qaeda-inspired Shebab rebels claimed responsibility Monday for bombings in Kampala that killed 74 people as they watched the World Cup final, in the region's worst attacks in 12 years.The twin attacks in the Ugandan capital dampened Africa's post World Cup euphoria, drew a barrage of global condemnation and marked an unprecedented internationalisation of Somalia's two-decade-old civil war. "We are behind the attack because we are at war with them," Ali Mohamoud Rage, the Shebab group's top spokesman told reporters in Mogadishu.The movement's top leader had warned in an audio message earlier this month that Uganda would face retaliation for contributing to an African Union force supporting the western-backed Somali transitional government.Explosions ripped through a sports bar and an Ethiopian restaurant in Kampala where people had gathered to watch the football World Cup final between Spain and the Netherlands."The latest official count is 74 confirmed dead," Fred Opolot, a Ugandan government spokesman, told AFP.Dozens of people were also wounded in the attacks that rattled Kampala days before it was due to host the African Union heads of state summit. Opolot said police were trying to determine if suicide bombers carried out the attacks."While there is evidence to suggest that there were suicide bombers, at the same time it is thought that the bombs were under some chairs," he told reporters.They were the deadliest attacks in the region since 1998 bombings against the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. A US embassy spokeswoman confirmed one American was among the dead and an AFP correspondent saw at least three wounded US citizens at the city's main Mulago hospital.Suspicion immediately fell on the Shebab, whose overall leader Mohamed Abdi Godane had warned in an audio message earlier this month that Uganda and Burundi would be targeted.The two countries provide troops to the African Union mission in Somalia (AMISOM) which is fighting daily battles against the Shebab in Mogadishu

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