President Obama warned Africans that groups like Al-Qaeda see their "innocent" lives as cheap. It is the first time Obama commented on the Kampala bombings.

Obama, whose father was Kenyan, took direct aim at the Shebaab and Al-Qaeda after attacks on African soccer fans watching the World Cup final on Sunday.

In an interview with South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) he said that "these terrorist organisations do not regard African life as valuable". He added: "They see it as a potential place where you can carry out ideological battles that kill innocents without regard to long-term consequences for their short-term tactical gains."

The interview will be broadcast early on Wednesday.

A US official meanwhile branded Al-Qaeda, linked to the Somalia-based Shebaab group which claimed the attacks, as "racist," as the United States cranked up its diplomatic response to increasingly active extremists in Africa.

 

source: AFP