admin
SOMALIA’S Islamist rebel group bombed African peacekeepers and government vehicles yesterday in twin attacks that left at least 12 civilians dead, marking al Shabaab’s first major attack since promising revenge for the killing of its leader last week. The blasts within an hour of each other on the same road southwest of Mogadishu targeted a convoy of African Union (AU) troops and a Somali government convoy of police and national security forces. Civilian buses near the first blast were hit.
“We are behind the two car bombs driven by mujahideen (fighters),” Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, spokesman for al Shabaab’s military operations, told Reuters.
The attacks were a reminder that al Shabaab, which wants to impose its strict version of Islam on Somalia, remains a potent threat capable of launching major attacks, even after losing its leader Ahmed Godane in a US strike last week.
Experts had warned Godane’s death may lead to more attacks. On Sunday, Somalia’s national security minister put the armed forces on higher alert and said the government was preparing for possible attacks on hospitals or schools.
Al Shabaab appointed a new leader at the weekend and said the group’s enemies would reap “bitter fruits” of revenge.
Abdikadir Mohamed Sidi, governor of the Lower Shabelle region south of Mogadishu, told Reuters by telephone he was driving behind the AU convoy at the time of the first blast and saw three civilian vehicles in the same area.
He said more than 12 people were killed in one minibus. Two African Union soldiers were injured in that attack, about 20km from the capital.
The rebels said four Americans and a South American were among those killed in the attack on the convoy. There was no official confirmation. Al Shabaab’s figures and the details it gives of those killed often differ markedly from official accounts.
“It is a disaster. The flesh of the people was mixed up and stuck to the tarmac road and the debris of the vehicle,” said Major Hussein Ahmed, a senior police officer, describing the scene near the African Union convoy where minibuses were hit.
More than two dozen people were wounded in the first blast, including two African soldiers, the governor said. At least two people were injured in the second blast, said major Hussein Ahmed. — Reuters.
Online Reporter