Bomb hits convoy carrying Qataris in Somalia, eight dead

Officers stand by the remains of a wrecked car at the scene of car bomb explosion along the "Kilometre 4" road junction, south of the capital Mogadishu, Somalia, May 5, 2013.

(Reuters) - A suicide bomber hit a convoy of cars carrying Qatari officials through the centre of Somalia's capital Mogadishu on Sunday, killing eight Somalis, officials said.
The visiting delegation of Qataris, who were travelling in the Somali interior minister's bullet-proof vehicle, were "safe", a security officer told Reuters, without going into further detail. The minister was not in the car at the time.

The Islamist rebel group al Shabaab said it was behind the attack and threatened further strikes against Somalia's government, which it called a "puppet" of Western powers.

"More explosions are on the way," al Shabaab's military spokesman Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab told Reuters by telephone.

The al Qaeda-linked rebels have kept up a campaign of guerrilla-style attacks since the army and peacekeepers pushed them out of bases in the city.

Witnesses said a suicide bomber rammed a car laden with explosives into the convoy. The blast tore through the busy 'Kilometre 4' road junction in the centre of Mogadishu's commercial and administrative district.

Gunfire rang out immediately after the explosion as the convoy's security guards fired into the air to disperse onlookers.

Qatar has been forging closer political ties with Somalia in recent years as it seeks to expand its influence in the Horn of Africa region.

"The car bomb targeted delegates from Qatar. They are safe," Hassan Osman, a security official, told Reuters, adding that the minister's car was damaged in the blast.

The chairman of Mogadishu's Hodan district, where the blast occurred, told reporters at the scene eight people had been killed and five wounded, most of them civilians.

Sunday's bomb was a stark reminder of two decades of civil strife in a country where the central government depends heavily on a 17,600-strong African Union peacekeeping force for its survival.

While there has been a significant improvement in the coastal capital since African Union peacekeepers drove the Islamist al Shabaab group out of the city in 2011, the attack showed the relative ease with which the militants can still strike.

Some of Mogadishu's major roads were closed last week after security officials received a tip-off about an imminent attack, but were re-opened on Saturday.

The state of Somalia's security forces will top the agenda at conference in London on May 7. Britain and Somalia are hoping to use the event to drum up more international support at a time when al Shabaab are weakened as a fighting force but can still inflict devastating strikes.

Civil war after the fall of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 left Somalia without effective central government and awash with weapons. The turmoil opened the doors for piracy to flourish in the Gulf of Aden and deeper into the Indian Ocean.

from REUTERS
By Abdi Sheikh and Feisal Omar
MOGADISHU | Sun May 5, 2013 10:51am BST
(Writing by Richard Lough; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Read More

Somalia: Al Shabab Briefly Take Over Key Border Town

Beled-Hawo — Somalia's militants Al- Shabaab on Saturday briefly seized a strategic town in the southwestern of war-wrecked horn of Africa nation before they were pushed back by pro-government soldiers controlling the area, an official and residents said.

The rebel fighters from Al-Shabaab launched their attacks on the town of Belad-Hawo town in southwestern Somalia province of Gedo, which is controlled by Somali troops.

The radical group of Al-Shabaab took over the town following fierce battles with army who were forced out of the town, but government troops regrouped and launched a counter- attack on the militants in the strategic town of Belad-Hawo on the key road linking to the border zone with Kenya.

"We managed to push them (Al-Shabaab fighters) back. We are now in hot pursuit of them,"Diyad Abdikalil, military commander of Somali forces in Gedo, told Shabelle Media by phone from the town, adding that they have killed at least 13 Al shabab combatants during the raid.

Witnesses said the fighting has been heavy with both sides exchanging artillery and machine guns.

The Al-Shabaab fighters are currently facing major joint Kenyan and Somali government military offensive.

from allAfrica/Shabelle

---

from XINHUA:

MANDERA, Kenya, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Several people are reported to have been killed and scores of others injured on Saturday after fierce gun battle erupted in southern Somali border town of Bula- Hawa following an attack by suspected Al-Shabaab militia.

The battle for the control of the Somali border town, which is less than 200 meters from Kenya's northern town of Mandera, has also left two Kenyans, including Mandera East Water Officer Mohamed Ali, injured.

The fighting which erupted at around 5 pm local time (1400GMT) was pitting suspected heavily armed Al-Shabaab militia and the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) who were in control of the town which was taken over from the insurgents by Somali forces backed by Ethiopian soldiers.

Kenya's Mandera County Commissioner Micheal Ole Tialal said huge number of civilians, largely women and children, and Somali soldiers have crossed to Mandera side of the border after they fled from the heavy fighting.

"Many civilians and TFG soldiers have crossed to the Border Point One in Mandera town. The TFG soldiers and some civilians have now returned back after the fighting has subsided and the attackers repulsed," Tialal said.

"We still have a huge number of Somali refugees who fled from the fighting who are camping on the Border Point One, but we haven' t yet established the number and our chiefs are on the ground to do the count."

Hussein Mahat Abdulle, a resident of Bula-Hawa who spoke on phone, said at least he saw 3 killed persons, 2 with TFG uniform and other body who is believed to be the member of Al-Shabaab assailants.

Abdulle said the attackers also burnt down the entire town, which they held briefly after the overpowered TFG soldiers fled cross the border to Mandera before regrouping and mounted a hard fight back to reclaim the town.

He said 10 civilians were also injured in the fighting and those injured were been taken to Mandera district hospital and other private hospitals in Mandera town.

Tialal said the Mandera East water officer Mohamed Ali sustained slight injuries, after his house which is less than 200 meters from the border was stroked by a stray hand grenade, which completely destroyed the house.

Mandera have repeatedly suffered both loss of property and loss of lives through stray bullets and hand grenades whenever a fighting erupted in Bula-Hawa due to its proximity to the town.

There have also been rising fears among communities living along the porous border with Somalia that the Al-Shabaab group fleeing from the imminent military assault on their last bastion town of Kismayo was likely to turn their frustration on the innocent civilians in a series of revenge attacks.

Panic has gripped border town of Mandera, Liboi and Amuma over the past month as unconfirmed report from Somali indicates that the weakened Al-Shabaab members were withdrawing from port city of Kismayo heading toward southern part of the war-weary country which borders Kenya, a country whose military invasion to flush out Al-Shabaab had served recurrent terror attacks from the militia since October 2011.

Kenya said the deployment of its troops in the southern regions have so far helped to prevent the movement of explosives to the strategic towns of Husingo and Badhade, the conduit points for the Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), the counterfeit electronics and contraband sugar smuggling across the region.

Military officials said these regions are crucial to the stabilization of Kenya's coastal and northeastern provinces, which have been targeted by attackers preying on soft civilian targets.

Editor: Mu Xuequan
2012-11-25 06:09:43

Read More

Somalia: Car bomb in busy market, injures 3

MOGADISHU, Somalia Jun 17 2012 (Garowe Online) – A car bomb attack in Mogadishu’s second major market left three people injured, Radio Garowe reports.

 

A car packed with explosives was left near a busy intersection in the district of Yaqshid  Ba’ad market Sunday afternoon, and was detonated as Somali forces drove by.

 

No casualties were reported in the car bomb but 3 civilians were injured in the blast.

 

Yaqshid district representative Muhayadin Hassan Jurrus visited the scene of the car bomb and released a statement saying that alleged driver of the vehicle is custody.

 

“The attack happened when a car full of explosives was parked in the market and was targeting Somali forces driving by at the time. Luckily there were only 3 civilian injuries and authorities have 

the alleged driver of the vehicle in custody,” said Mr. Jurrus.

 

On Saturday, an Al Shabaab agent carried out a suicide car bomb attack in the newly captured Afgoye corridor which killed 3 including the suicide bomber and injured another 3.

 

The spokesman for the Al Shabaab Sheikh Abu Mus’ab said that the attack was a great success for the organization who vowed to continue attacks on government forces.

 

from  GAROWE ONLINE  

17 Jun 17, 2012 - 9:57:05 AM

Read More

Kenya's Raila Odinga wants EU to attack Somalia's al-Shabab Islamists

Kenya's prime minister has asked for help from the US and Europe in a "final onslaught" on the Somali port of Kismayo, the main stronghold of the Islamist militant group al-Shabab.

Raila Odinga said Kenyan forces would get to Kismayo by August and asked for both funds and troops.

He said beating al-Shabab would need "an operation by land, sea and air".

from BBC News, Africa
12 June 2012 Last updated at 12:43 GMT


EU warships are in the area to tackle pirates but attacking al-Shabab would be a huge escalation in their mission.

Such action does not fall under the EU's mandate.

The EU's anti-piracy mission has not yet responded to the call.

Its mandate was recently expanded to allow for land attacks against Somalia-based pirates.

Up to 10 warships are on patrol off the Horn of Africa as part of the EU's Atalanta operation, which was launched in 2008 to protect commercial shipping against pirate attacks.
'Neutralise al-Shabab'

African Union soldiers, Ethiopian forces and Somali government troops have in recent months succeeded in driving al-Shabab from several towns.

Kenyan forces moved into Somalia last October and have been slowly moving toward Kismayo.

Kismayo is considered strategically important because the al-Shabab militants who control it get a significant portion of their funds by levying "taxes" on the port.

"Without controlling Kismayo, it's very difficult to completely neutralise al-Shabab," Mr Odinga told journalists in Nairobi.

"It has taken time because our forces felt that to move in otherwise would have cost a lot of lives, both civilian and military."

Mr Odinga said he intended to ask the US to help pay for the assault.

He said the US had previously "resisted" providing funds until Kenyan forces joined the African Union force known as Amisom. They joined earlier this month.

"If they can also bring military assistance so much the better, but for now we are talking about financial assistance," he said.

He said the EU was "reluctant" to commit because Kismayo is an al-Shabab stronghold and not a pirate stronghold.

But he said the international community should work together to "create an environment in Somalia that will facilitate the voluntary return of Somalis to Somalia."

from BBC News, Africa
12 June 2012 Last updated at 12:43 GMT

Read More

AU troops seize strategic Somalia town

Afgoye town captured from al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab fighters, as AU and Somalia troops clear areas around Mogadishu.
African Union and Somali troops have captured the strategic town of Afgoye from al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab fighters without major resistance, declaring a military breakthrough, officials have said.


an ALJAZEERA article

"We have crossed the River Shabelle and we are now there in Afgoye. We hold the town," AU army spokesman Paddy Ankunda said on Friday. "We have been fighting since Tuesday to achieve this objective and we have achieved it now."

"There was some brief resistance but we have crushed that," said Somali army commander Mohamed Abdullah.

Columns of AU and Somali troops backed by tanks launched the long-awaited attack on Afgoye four days ago, marching northwest 30km from the capital Mogadishu to the town, an area crowded with displaced people.

"The Shabab are fleeing the town, they are running away into the bush," said Ankunda, adding that AU troops had also secured the roads leading from Afgoye, which controls a key route from southern Somalia to the capital.

"There is some shooting here and there, but mostly it is calm ... We control all the road junctions out of Afgoye," he said.

More than 400,000 people were living in the Afgoye region at the start of the year, the world's largest concentration of displaced people, according to the UN.

Impoverished settlements of plastic and rag huts crowd an area that was last year gripped by famine. Its capture is hoped to allow access by aid workers, until now banned from helping the people by draconian orders from al-Shabab.

The UN refugee agency reports over 6,000 civilians have fled since the assault on Afgoye began, although aid workers fear that more people not included in that assessment may have fled into the bush.

Isolating base

Officials hope that the taking of Afgoye will deny al-Shabab a base from which to continue its recent spate of attacks on the capital.

Many fighters had shifted to the area after pulling out of fixed positions in Mogadishu last August and launching a campaign of suicide and grenade attacks.

Elsewhere, Somali troops were reported to be pushing northward toward the al-Shabab-held town of Balad, which lies some 35km north of Mogadishu.

Balad controls a key bridge across the River Shabelle, and lies on the road to the important city of Jowhar.

The loss of Afgoye to al-Shabab is another major blow for the group, which have been on the backfoot for several months.

AU and Somali troops have made significant gains in recent months against fighters, although the group remains a major security threat.

Somalia's weak and Western-backed transitional administration has less than three months to set up a permanent government, but the leaders have been riven by bitter internal divisions and tarnished by accusations of gross corruption.

The international community has expressed concern it is failing to meet key deadlines, but leaders this week committed themselves to choosing a new parliament by July 20, and a new president by August 20.

Read More

Five dead in suicide bomb blast at Mogadishu theater

update:
photos: http://www.calanka.com/warka/article2749.htm

MOGADISHU, April 4 (Xinhua) -- At least five people including two sports officials are confirmed dead and 10 others were wounded Wednesday after a female suicide bomber detonated her explosives at a ceremony at the national theater in the Somali capital Mogadishu, officials and witnesses said.

Top Somali government officials including Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali and some members of his cabinet were present at the ceremony at the theater. The prime minister was unharmed.

At a news conference shortly after the blast, the prime minister vowed his government will continue to fight terror and those acts will not intimidate the government from serving the people.

"I am told that four people died in the explosion and others were wounded. The anti-peace elements cannot intimidate us from fulfilling our duty towards our people," Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli told reporters at his office in Mogadishu.

Two senior officials from the Somali Olympic Committee were among five people whom medical officials confirmed dead in the explosion and 10 more were reportedly wounded.

Several local reporters covering the ceremony were also among the wounded, who were rushed to the hospital following the huge blast at the newly reopened Somali national theater after almost 20 years of being closed.

The reopening of the Chinese-built theater late last month was hailed as an example of the growing stability and normalization of life in the Somali capital Mogadishu, following the retreat by radical Islamists from the city.

The Islamist group of Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack and vowed to continue carrying out similar attacks against government targets and African Union (AU) peacekeepers in Mogadishu.

The radical Al-Shabaab movement, which has recently announced its merge with the international terror group, vowed to carry out such attacks following their retreat from the Somali capital last year, under the pressure of concerted military offensive by AU troops and Somali government forces.
---

Harakat Al-Shabaab Al Mujahideen Press Office said on twitter:

This operation wasn’t carried out by female as they allege but everything was carefully planned & orchestrated by specially trained unit
— HSM Press Office 

Read More

Suicide bomber kills three in central Somalia

Image via Wikipedia

MOGADISHU, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- A suicide bomber killed three people including two police officers in an attack on the home of former Somali police commander, Abdi Hassan Awale, in central Somali town of Galkayo, witnesses said Tuesday.

Awale who was reportedly at his home at the time of the attack was said to be unharmed but two of his bodyguards and a civilian were killed in the blast, witnesses said.

"We heard huge explosion from the officail's home then we learned that it was a suicide bomber who attacked the house. Two policemen died and a civilian,"Ali Nur, a resident in Galkayo told Xinhua.

It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack on the former police chief's home but Islamist rebels of Al-Shabaab often target Somali government officials and security forces.

The radical group has not so far commented on the development in Galkayo in the semi-autonomous region of Galmudug in central Somalia. The regional state has close ties with the central Somali government in Mogadishu.

Read More

Danish ship frees nine Pakistanis from Somali pirates

Image via Wikipedia

ISLAMABAD: Nine Pakistani sailors together with five Iranians have been rescued by the Danish Navy vessel Absalon, off the coast of Somalia. The vessel, which is participating in NATO’s anti-piracy operation ‘Ocean Shield’ took control of the hijacked Iranian fishing vessel Tahari after following the ship overnight and conducting helicopter surveillance.

The vessel Absalon received information from the Navy Operational Command, reporting the suspected pirate ship. After warning shots and tear gas shells were fired, the vessel was quickly brought to a halt and the Navy Maritime Action Team took control of the ship. Subsequently, it was found that the Tahari’s original crew of nine Pakistanis and five Iranian nationals were on board and had been held hostage by 25 suspected pirates since November 2011.

“We are extremely glad to know that innocent people have been liberated. One cannot even imagine what ordeal these innocent sailors must have been through while trying to do their best to earn a living,” said the Danish Ambassador to Pakistan, Uffe Wolffhechel.

He further added that in the past year, the Somali pirates have been responsible for numerous kidnapping cases of official crewmembers from companies around the world, including several Pakistani nationals. “Their criminal activities have become of high concern among the international community and calls for concerted, global action against piracy on the high seas,” said the ambassador.

The crew members of the Danish Navy Vessel have been on board on the Tahari since the action and have reported that the ship is in good condition. It is expected that the 14 rescued crew members will return to Iran with the Tahari.

The vessel was hijacked between November 7 and 10, 2011. Nobody was injured during the operation. It appears that the hostages have been subjected to rough treatment by the pirates but, bearing in mind the circumstances, are now in good shape.

In April 2011, another Danish Navy vessel, Esbern Snare rescued 16 Pakistanis, who had been kept hostage by Somali pirates for several months before they were rescued.


from http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=11702&Cat=13

Read More

Shabaab names new leader of Kenyan branch

Shabaab, al Qaeda's affiliate in Somalia, has named a radical Kenyan preacher who has advocated jihad across the globe to lead to lead their branch in Kenya.
The Muslim Youth Center, a radical Islamist group in Kenya, said that Shabaab named Sheikh Ahmad Iman Ali its "Supreme Amiir", or leader, on Jan. 10. The Muslim Youth Center released a statement on their blog, which was obtained by the SITE Intelligence Group.

By Bill Roggio - January 13, 2012 - LWJ

Sheikh Ahmad Iman Ali, the leader of Shabaab's branch in Kenya, from a videotape released on Jan. 6. Image from the SITE Intelligence Group.

Shabaab, al Qaeda's affiliate in Somalia, has named a radical Kenyan preacher who has advocated jihad across the globe to lead to lead their branch in Kenya.

The Muslim Youth Center, a radical Islamist group in Kenya, said that Shabaab named Sheikh Ahmad Iman Ali its "Supreme Amiir", or leader, on Jan. 10. The Muslim Youth Center released a statement on their blog, which was obtained by the SITE Intelligence Group.

"Allah favours our beloved al Shabaab, and al Shabaab in return has placed the responsibility of waging jihad in Kenya in the capable Kenyan hands of our Amiir Sheikh Ahmad Iman Ali," the statement said.

According to the Muslim Youth Center, Ali has fought in Somali, where he led other Kenyans against Somali troops and African Union forces.

"Some years back our beloved brothers in al Shabaab called upon our Amir to take up his duty and help the mujahideen in Somalia," the statement said. "Without hesitation or excuses like many of the other Sheikhs in Kenya our Amiir left Majengo and MYC [Muslim Youth Center] to begin fighting in Allah cause. As a result, many of us in MYC and others in Kenya followed our dear Amiir to the land of Somalia."

The Muslim Youth Center said Kenya as "is legally a war zone" and Ali now "now leads us into jihad in Kenya without hesitation or fear."

"We will wage defensive jihad as we have been instructed to so without mercy for the sake of our precious religion," the statement continued.

The Muslim Youth Center also said that Ali is following in the footsteps of "brother Fazul," or Fazul Mohammed, the former leader of al Qaeda's operations in East Africa who also served as a senior leader in Shabaab. Fazul has been indicted along with Osama bin Laden, Ayman al Zawahiri, and other top al Qaeda leaders by the US government for his involvement in the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Fazul was killed by Somali troops at a checkpoint south of Mogadishu in June 2011.

"We in MYC have no doubt that our Amiir Sheikh Ahmad Iman Ali will continue the unfinished work of brother Fazul in Kenya and in the region of East Africa," the statement said.

Shabaab named Ali to lead their branch in Kenya just four days after the terror group released a 51-minute-long video by that featured him. In the video, he urged Muslims to travel to the global theaters of war, and if the could not make the journey, he urged them to wage jihad at home.

"[If] are unable to reach the land of jihad, the land of ribat, like the land of Somalia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Algeria, or Iraq, if you are unable to reach these lands which have established the banner of tawheed and the Shariah of Allah, then raise your sword against the enemy that is closest to you," he said according to the translation of the video by the SITE Intelligence Group.

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2012/01/shabaab_names_new_le.php#ixzz1jKsRk5MT

Read More