The rebels have also threatened Uganda and Burundi because they have deployed peacekeeping troops in Somalia to help prop up the shaky TFG.

The Islamist al-Shebab, or Youth, militia issued the threat against pro-Western Kenya following reports over several weeks that the Kenyan military has been recruiting ethnic Somalis with Kenyan citizenship to join a covert force to fight the Somali Islamists.

According to The Nation newspaper published in Nairobi, as many as 300 young Somalis had been recruited by Kenyan military officers with promises of salaries of $600 a month.

Authorities have repeatedly denied the reports, but The Nation reported that there was "a growing body of evidence, including witness accounts and admissions by military officials in the TFG that they are receiving Kenyans into their ranks."

On Nov. 14 members of Kenya's Defense Committee investigated the allegations, and its chairman, Adan Keynan, a member of the Kenyan Parliament, declared: "There appears to have been a major security breach that has occurred on Kenyan soil.

"It is becoming clear that Kenya has taken sides in this war, which is very serious for us because we're a frontline state and share a long and porous border with Somalia."

On Oct. 23 Sheik Ali Mohammed Hussein, who heads the al-Shebab forces in the Mogadishu sector, threatened to attack the capitals of Uganda and Burundi because they have supplied troops to an African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia to bolster the TFG's fighters.

That threat followed a bout of heavy fighting in Mogadishu during which Ugandan and Burundi troops traded artillery and mortar fire with the rebels, killing 21 people.

Hussein accused the AU troops of "indiscriminately shelling" civilian areas of the city whenever they come under attack from al-Shebab fighters. According to aid agency officials, dozens of people have perished in the frequent AU retaliatory fire.

Uganda and Burundi, which have contributed some 5,000 troops to the AU force, appear to be taking the threat seriously. Ugandan officials say the Kampala government has moved to step up security following the threat.

It is questionable whether al-Shebab, which has been at odds with another Islamist group, Hizb-ul Islam, is capable of launching attacks across East Africa.

But there are foreign fighters in al-Shebab's ranks who are pressing to widen their campaign to re-establish an Islamic caliphate.

There are hundreds of thousands of Somalis living throughout East Africa who could provide a manpower pool for the rebels. And by attacking targets in Uganda, Burundi and Kenya al-Shebab would likely ease the military pressure on them in Somalia.

East Africa has a large Muslim population. In September helicopter-borne U.S Navy SEALs, operating from a U.S. warship in the Indian Ocean, assassinated a senior al-Shebab leader from Kenya in a raid into southern Somalia, along with several others.

He had links to al-Qaida and was allegedly involved in the August 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es Salaam, Tanzania.

For the foreign Islamists fighting in Somalia, the war there is only the first step toward toppling other governments in the region.

According to the U.S.-based security consultancy Stratfor, "For foreign jihadists, threatening foreign countries adds a transnational layer to their campaign, raising their profile and giving them more credibility abroad."

Stratfor reasons that al-Shebab seeks to undermine the AU peacekeepers. "The fact that Uganda and Burundi contribute virtually all of the AU forces means that carrying out attacks in those countries could be a strategy to get Uganda and Burundi to back off from Somalia, giving locals there more room to maneuver," it concluded.

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