|
Suicide Bomber Kills Two at Somali Presidency
[An Nahar] A jacket wallah went kaboom!" Wednesday at the compound of Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, killing at least two people, in an attack claimed by al-Qaeda-affiliated Shebab rebels.The bomber detonated an explosive vest at the highly guarded compound, but it was not immediately clear if Sharif, who was in Ethiopia on Tuesday, was back at his residence. The Shebab said one of its volunteers had carried out the attack, claiming 16 people had been killed.
Police front man Abdulahi Hasan Barise said that according to initial reports at least three people had been killed, including the bomber, and that six others had been injured. Another police official, Mohamed Adan, said the attacker went kaboom!" at the gate of Somali parliament speaker's residence, which is also located at the Villa Somalia compound that houses the presidency. The hardline Islamist group has resorted to guerrilla tactics since abandoning fixed bases in the war-riven capital Mogadishu in August, and have grabbed credit for previous deadly attacks. In October, the militia carried out its deadliest suicide kaboom in the capital when a bomber rammed an explosives-laded vehicle into a government compound, killing at least 82 people. A Shebab suicide bomber also killed 15 people in February at a cafe near the presidential palace. The beturbanned goons have been fighting to overthrow the weak Western-backed Somalia government which is propped up in Mogadishu by a 10,000-strong African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... force comprising troops from Djibouti, Burundi and Uganda. The hardline Islamists, who control large swathes of territory in southern Somalia, have in recent months come under pressure from the armed forces of neighboring states Kenya and Ethiopia in the far south and west. Ethiopian forces recently ousted the Shebab from a key southern Somalia stronghold, and the Shebab have also been battered by Kenyan air strikes and ground assaults. However, the man who has no enemies isn't anybody and has never done anything... experts warn the Shebab are far from defeated and remain a major threat, especially now they have switched to guerrilla tactics. Somalia has had no effective government since 1991, allowing the Shebab and other militia groups to fill the vacuum. At a conference in London last month, international powers pledged to boost aid for Somalia to tackle Islamist militancy, piracy and political instability, warning that failure to help now could hurt the rest of the world. The term of the Horn of Africa country's government expires in August and the fragile administration's backers have ruled out any extension of its mandate, pressing for a new administration capable of nationwide authority. Posted by: Fred 2012-03-15 |
|
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=340994 |