Injured victims of a bomb blast at a hotel in the Somalia capital of Mogadishu on December 3, 2009. Three top generals in the US-backed regime recently resigned.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
12/3/2009 12:51:00 PM
MOGADISHU (Sh. M. Network) – More than 10 people including Doctors, TFG ministers, students and journalists including Shabelle’s reporter Mohamed Amin Aden Abdulle have been killed and 40 others wounded after big blast targeted to Shamo hotel in the Somali capital Mogadishu, officials confirmed to Shabelle radio on Thursday.
Officials confirmed to Shabelle radio that Prof Ibrahim Hassan Adow, minister of high education, Ahmed Abdullahi (Wayel), minister of education and Qamar Aden Ali, health minister of the transitional Federal Government, Doctor Dufle and Dr. Mohamed Aden (Shahid), one of the University preceptors of Somalia were all killed in the explosion as a graduating ceremony continued at the hotel.
Two Somali journalists, Hassan Zubeyr Haji known as (Fantastic), Al Arabia’s international TV photographer and Mohamed Amin Aden Abdulle, Shabelle’ reporter died in the blast which occurred at Shamo hotel in the south of the capital Mogadishu.
Reports say that the blast was carried out by a man who imitated and dressed women’s cloths and entered to hotel with invitation who lately exploded in very crowd of people who attended well decorated ceremony that continued in Shamo hotel.
Sources and health officials said that more than 40 people including Omar Abdisalan known as (Omar Faruq), Reuters’ photographer, Saleban Olad Robe, sports minister were one of those injured in blast adding that most of them were rushed to Madina hospital in south of the capital.
Reliable sources said that the murdered students were one of more students who graduated from Banadir University in Mogadishu and attending their graduating ceremony held in the hotelon Thursday morning adding that the casualties could be more than the noted number.
It is unclear the kind of the blast that targeted to the hotel which caused the huge casualties and there is no group who claimed the responsibility of the explosion so far.
By: Hassan Osman Abdi +2521-5577743
For more send your comments to radioshabelle@ymail.com
Suicide bomber kills three Somali government ministers
Thursday, December 3 02:50 pm
Abdi Guled and Ibrahim Mohamed
A suicide bomber killed at least 19 people including three Somali
government ministers on Thursday at a graduation ceremony in a
Mogadishu hotel, witnesses and officials said
It was the worst attack in the lawless Horn of Africa nation since
June, when hardline al Shabaab rebels killed the security minister and at least 30 other people in a suicide bombing at a hotel in the town of Baladwayne.
The U.N.-backed government of President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed controls little more than a few streets of the capital. In the days ahead of Thursday's attack, residents said it had apparently been planning a new offensive against the rebels.
The bombing showed once again the insurgents' ability to strike the
government at will, and it will heighten frustration in the country's
fragile administration over delayed pledges of military and financial
support from Western donors.
"Suicide bombings are a worrying trend not only for Somalia but also
the region. There has been a rise in fundamentalism in Somalia coming from the Middle East and Pakistan," said Bethuel Kiplagat, Kenya's special envoy to the Somalia peace process from 2003-2005. "There's a worry al Qaeda may be looking at Somalia as a new sanctuary."
A Reuters reporter at the Shamo Hotel said it was packed with
graduates from Benadir University, their parents and officials when a
powerful blast tore through the ceremony.
"Human flesh was everywhere," he said.
Government officials said Health Minister Qamar Aden Ali, Education
Minister Ahmed Abdulahi Waayeel and Higher Education Minister Ibrahim Hassan Addow all died in the explosion. Sports Minister Saleban Olad Roble was critically injured.
The African Union peacekeeping force AMISOM said the blast was caused by a suicide bomber and 19 civilians were killed.
Ali Yasin Gedi, vice-chairman of Mogadishu-based Elman Peace and Human Rights Organisation, said more than 40 people were wounded, including the dean of Benadir's medical college, who Gedi said had been evacuated by plane to neighbouring Kenya.
"A lot of my friends were killed," medical student Mohamed Abdulqadir, told Reuters. "I was sitting next to a lecturer who also died. He had been speaking to the gathering just a few minutes before the explosion."
AL QAEDA'S PROXY
Dubai-based Al Arabiya Television said one of its cameramen, Hasan al-Zubair, had been killed.
Suspicion for the blast immediately fell on the al Shabaab group,
which also struck at the heart of the main AU military base in
Mogadishu with twin suicide car bombs in September, killing 17
peacekeepers including the deputy force commander.
Somali government officials say al Shabaab has hundreds of foreign
fighters in its ranks and Washington accuses the Islamist group of
being al Qaeda's proxy in the country. It is fighting to impose its
harsh version of sharia law throughout Somalia.
Western security experts say the nation has become a safe haven for
militants, including jihadists from overseas, who are using it to plot
attacks across the region and beyond.
Al Shabaab has threatened to strike Uganda's capital Kampala and
Burundi's capital Bujumbura because both nations contribute troops to the 5,200-strong AU peacekeeping force AMISOM.
Kenyan security forces say they are on high alert on their frontier
with Somalia after al Shabaab gunmen seized several small towns on the Somali side of the border in recent weeks.
On Thursday, Kenyan anti-terrorism police sources said they had
arrested nine members of another Somali rebel group, Hizbul Islam, and seized 20 AK-47 rifles at Kiunga, on the coast near Somalia and close to the A-list resort island of Lamu.
A senior anti-terrorism source told Reuters the men appeared to have fled advancing Shabaab forces and may have been bringing in guns to sell to local criminals to survive.
Fighting has killed at least 19,000 Somalis since the start of 2007
and driven another 1.5 million from their homes.
The anarchy has also spilt offshore, where heavily armed Somali
pirates have made tens of millions of dollars in ransoms.
"Only an intense engagement by the region and international partners will give a chance of success in Somalia, but some countries are clearly more preoccupied with their internal concerns," Kenya's Kiplagat said, citing forthcoming elections in Ethiopia, turmoil in Sudan and political wrangles in Kenya.
(Additional reporting by Abdi Sheikh in Mogadishu, Abdiaziz Hassan in Nairobi, Celestine Achieng in Mombasa and William Maclean in London; Writing by Daniel Wallis; Editing by David Clarke and Giles Elgood)
Three ministers killed in Mogadishu blast
03/12/2009 - 10:30
AFP - A suicide bomber killed 18 people including three Somali
government ministers at a ceremony in a Mogadishu hotel on Thursday, officials said.
The blast is the most serious attack on the transitional federal
government (TFG) since the launch of an Al-Qaeda inspired Islamist
insurgency that has brought new strife to the Horn of Africa nation.
Several ministers from the UN-backed government were at a graduation ceremony for students at the Shamo hotel when the explosion went off.
A security official said 18 people were killed and that the blast was
caused by a suicide bomber. "Most of the vicitms were students," the
official said.
A hotel security official said the suicide bomber was probably hidden
among the guests.
Higher Education Minister Ibrahim Hassan Addow and Health Minister Qamar Aden were killed on the spot and Education Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Waayel died shortly after the blast, a senior government official said.
Sports Minister Suleyman Olad Roble was among the injured, the official added.
Two journalists, one from Shabele Radio and another from Al Arabiya
television, and a doctor were also killed, a source at the hotel said.
AFP photographer Mohamed Dahir sustained slight injuries.
"We were waiting outside the conference room when there was a huge explosion. I found myself on the ground in the middle of the smoke and screaming," said Dahir.
"I went to get my camera, and that's when I saw the bodies of the
three ministers."
New EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton condemned the "cowardly attack" and promised to seek a coordinated international response to Somalia's woes.
"I condemn in the strongest terms possible this cowardly attack
against civilians including students, doctors and journalists," Ashton
said in a statement.
In Kampala, the acting head of AMISOM, the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia, Wafula Wamunyini, said the attack "was intended to intimidate and blackmail the TFG. We condemn this incident in the strongest terms."
Thousands have been killed in Mogadishu in recent years as Islamists battle for control of the capital.
The Somali insurgents launched a fresh offensive against the
transitional government of President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed on May 7 and clashes since then have left more than 250 dead while an estimated 120,000 people have fled the city.
The Shebab militia have vowed to bring down the government and force all African Union peacekeepers out of the country.
Somalia has had no effective government since President Mohamed Siad Barre was forced out of power in the early 1990s.
The Islamists control large swathes of Mogadishu as well as much of the centre and south of the country.
The transitional government only exists with the backing of the 5,000
AU peacekeepers from Burundi and Uganda.
At least 60 peacekeepers have been killed since they were deployed in March 2007 to protecting strategic sites in the seaside city such as
the presidency, the port and the airport. A twin suicide bombing at
Mogadishu airport in September killed 17 peacekeepers.
Wamunyini ruled out any withdrawal of peacekeepers following the new attack however: "We want to ensure everyone we are going to continue with our mission. We are going to continue providing our services."
The attack came a day after Wamunyini expressed frustration at the
failure of African countries to honour troop commitments. The force is
meant to have 8,000 soldiers.
Wamunyinyi said the threat posed by Islamist insurgents had been
exaggerated, scaring off countries from deployments.
"We feel really frustrated and let down that several African nations
have not honoured their commitment to send troops, but the media have made it difficult for them to deploy," he said.
"And nobody seems to appreciate the AMISOM has accomplished a lot," he said at the press conference in Kampala where military chiefs and other AU officials are meeting on ways to boost the force.
Somalia’s health minister killed in Mogadishu explosion
3 Dec 3, 2009 - 3:45:47 AM
Reports say Somalia’s Health Minister Qamar Aden Ali has been killed in a huge explosion that rocked a hotel in the restive capital
Mogadishu.
The blast was targeted at workshop held in Mogadishu’s Sham Hotel
where the minister, other participants and journalists were in
attendance.
Medics say several people; some in critical conditions have been
rushed to the hospital.
The cause of the blast is yet unknown.
Somalia: Top Somali senior officers dismissed
3 Dec 3, 2009 - 4:20:07 AM
Somali military and police commanders have been forced to vacate their offices for failure to curb the rampant insurgency in the war-torn
Somalia, sources close to the government told Garowe Online.
Somali police commander General Abdi Hassan Awale and the military commander General Yusuf Hussein Osman have been blamed for doing little about the current security situation in the country, however their dismissal is not yet publicised.
Reports say General Abdi Hassan is expected to be named Somali
ambassador to the one of the West Africa countries, while the fate of
the General Yussuf is unknown.
There is no one who was named for the positions of the Somali police and military commanders, however the move comes as the government outlines new program meant to carry out national census on the number of Somali TFG police and military troops.
After his election early this year, Somali president Sheikh Sharif
Sheikh named General Yusuf the Military chief after dismissing the
former who served in the government Ex-president Abdullahi Yussuf. In the reshuffle, General Abdi Awale was returned as the police
commanders
Analysts say the latest dismissal can only be accounted for hidden war within the embattled government with the move expected to rattle the shaky political grounds.
Senior Somali government officials led by President Sheikh Sharif and Prime Minister Omar Ali Sharmake are now discussing who will replace the two commanders.
GAROWE ONLINE
Somalia: 8 killed in Mogadishu fighting
Dec 2, 2009 - 1:04:41 PM
At least 8 people, including a civilian were killed and unknown number injured in heavy fighting between Al-Shabab and Somali government troops in Mogadishu on Monday.
Officials from the both sides have claimed victory however; witnesses
said AMISOM troops who were backing Somali government troops for
shelled the rebel bases.
"The dead include Four Somali TFG troops, three Al-Shabab militias and a civilian while a number of others from both sides injured," a
witness told Garowe Online.
Somali government police commander Col Dahir Ali Farey told the
reporters that they have killed 4 Al-Shabab militias with only one
police man wounded.
An Al-Shabab officer told the media that his group has inflicted a
resounding defeat to Somali troops, killing 12 policemen and capturing the military base.
The embattled Somali troops, who recently finished trainings in
neighbouring, were deployed in Kabka military industry at Industrial
Street recently.
The restive capital has been the scene of deadly clashes between rebel forces and UN-backed government forces.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for Hizbul Islam group says they will intensify their attacks on fragile government and AU troops in Mogadishu.
Sheikh Mohamed Osman Arus told a press conference on Monday 30, November that their fighters are willing to protect the embattled
against the government and AMISOM troops.
"The reason we want to continue the fighting against the government
and AMISOM troops is that they have made new bases in Mogadishu, and they want to harass the civilians" said Sheikh Mohamed.
The group accuses the government of planning to launch massive
military attack on their bases in Mogadishu.
This comes as Somali president Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed led
delegation including AMISOM commander and the Somali TFG forces commander General Yusuf Hussein Osman to pay a visit to military camps in Mogadishu' s Medina and Darkanley districts on Monday.
Ahmed praised the forces for the wonderful endeavour to contain the
powerful insurgent in the districts.
"You are the guard of the country; I appreciate the courageous fight
with the rebels and capturing of these districts, I encourage you to
protect your country," said president Sharif, urging them to draw the
sympathy of the civilians.
GAROWE ONLINE
AU official calls for urgent deployment of peacekeepers in Somalia
By Ronald Ssekandi and Tian Ye
Thursday, December 03, 2009
KAMPALA, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- The African Union (AU) representative in
Somalia on Wednesday called for an urgent deployment of peacekeepers in the country to prevent the possible relocation of al Qaida following planned attacks on their bases in Afghanistan.
Wafula Wamunyinyi, AU Deputy Special Representative for Somalia told Xinhua in an interview that as the United States and Britain deploy more troops to Afghanistan, the al Qaida terrorist network is most likely to relocate to volatile Somalia where it has already had links with the al Shabaab, a militia group fighting the government.
"This (troop deployment in Afghanistan) obviously is going to push al
Qaida. if they find an escape route, the only safe place is Somalia,"
he said.
"The Africans who feel they are secure or they can not be affected by
this threat will feel it when they get attacked. But we don't want to
wait until they are attacked," he added.
Wamunyinyi was speaking on the sidelines of the opening of a two-day meeting of current and potential troop contributing countries to the African Union Mission in Somalia.
He said African countries must deploy peacekeepers in Somalia to avoid such a scenario, which is likely to destabilize the region and the continent.
Uganda and Burundi are the only countries that have deployed troops in the volatile country, which according to experts, now needs up to 27,000 troops instead of the previously required 8,000.Only about 4,300 troops have so far been deployed.
Wamunyinyi, quoting intelligence, said the al Shabaab is recruiting
more Africans into their outfit with half of their recruits coming
from Kenya and others from Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi.
About 500 of the recruits come from outside Africa, particularly from
Afghanistan, Pakistan, the United States, Bangladesh and many other countries, he said.
The meeting which was aimed at building confidence among current and potential troop contributing countries drew 47 participants from
Burundi, Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Malawi, and Somalia.
Source: Xinhua
Somali militants training pirates
Stewart Bell, National Post
Thursday, December 03, 2009
The Somali militant group Al-Shabab has been arming and training
pirates in exchange for a share of their spoils, says a newly released
Canadian intelligence document.
Al-Shabab has formed a "relationship of convenience" with one of the
two main pirate networks operating off the Horn of Africa, the "Top
Secret" intelligence assessment says.
The report describes an "Islamist extremism-piracy nexus" that
involves Al-Shabab providing "weapons, combat training and local
protection" to the Mudug pirates of southern Somalia.
In return, "elements of Al-Shabab continue to receive portions of the
spoils from successful hijackings either in cash or seized weapons and materiel," it says.
Pirate attacks in the region have soared over the past two years but
in addition to threatening international shipping, they are also
apparently financing the Somali extremist group at the centre of
several major North American counter-terrorism investigations.
The FBI is probing at least 20 Somali-Americans who have left
Minneapolis to join Al-Shabab, and the RCMP and Canadian Security
Intelligence Service are investigating whether up to six
Somali-Canadians who left Toronto in recent weeks were also recruited by Al-Shabab.
The report was written by Integrated Threat Assessment Centre, which is made up of representatives of Canada's national security agencies. A copy of was obtained under the Access to Information Act.
It says 13% of the cargo that passes through Canadian ports transits
the pirate-infested waters around the Horn of Africa. Last year, a
shipment of Canadian iron ore was commandeered by Somalia pirates and released after the owner of the vessel, the Yasa Neslihan, paid a ransom, the report says.
Somali pirate attacks more than doubled last year to 115, 46 of which
were successful. Given the millions worth of ransom payments involved, the "operation ties" between the pirates and Al-Shabab could earn significant sums for the militants.
Al-Shabab is an armed group that is fighting what it calls a jihad to
impose Islamic law in Somalia and beyond.
The group adheres to al-Qaeda's anti-Western ideology, and the report says that, "some Al-Shabab fighters and leaders have also received guidance from al-Qaeda and have attended foreign training camps."
As part of a recruiting effort aimed at Western youths, Al-Shabab has
been distributing Internet propaganda videos in English that feature
rap music and show foreign fighters engaged in attacks.
The Somali-Canadians under investigation are in their early- to
mid-twenties. Most left Toronto together in early November without
informing their families or friends. Investigators believe they are
already in Somalia.
The Abu Huraira mosque, where some of them worshipped, has urged anyone with information to come forward.
Source: National Post
United Nations Renews MIlitary Occupation of Iraq against pirates for another year
Monday, November 30, 2009
The Security Council today renewed for another 12 months the
authorization for States and regional organizations fighting piracy
off the Somali coast to enter the strife-torn country’s territorial
waters and “undertake all necessary measures that are appropriate in Somalia” provide they have the transitional government’s consent.
In a resolution adopted unanimously under Chapter VII of the UN
Charter authorizing the use of force, the 15-member body also noted
with concern that escalating ransom payments and the lack of
enforcement of the arms embargo imposed by the Council in 1992 are fuelling the growth of piracy.
It called on all States to fully cooperate with the monitoring group
on the embargo and reiterated its appeal to countries and regional
organizations with the capacity to do so to deploy naval vessels, arms and military aircraft in the fight again a scourge that has over the years frequently disrupted the delivery of UN humanitarian aid as well as routine shipping. This year the pirates have been operating ever further out to sea, sometimes hundreds of miles away from the coast.
Noting the “crisis situation in Somalia,” which has been without a
functioning central government and plagued by factional conflict since 1991, “and the limited capacity of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG)” to interdict or prosecute pirates, the Council renewed earlier calls to those States fighting piracy off the Somali coast to help plug the vacuum.
They should do so by concluding arrangements whereby countries willing to take custody of pirates, particularly those in the region, would station law enforcement officials on the patrol ships to facilitate the investigation and prosecution of persons detained as a result of the international operations, provided the TFG consents.
The Council called on Member States at the request of the TFG “to
strengthen capacity in Somalia, including regional authorities, to
bring to justice those who are using Somali territory to plan,
facilitate, or undertake criminal acts of piracy and armed robbery at
sea.”
Earlier this month, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned that piracy would not be defeated by military means alone. “We will find a
solution only by addressing the broader political and security
situation,” he said in a message to the UN International Maritime
Organization (IMO), stressing the need to support the “fragile” TFG.
He noted that since the start of the international naval escort system
two years ago, not a single ship heading to Somalia with UN World Food Programme (WFP) aid has been attacked. “WFP has been able to scale up its operations, providing much-needed food assistance to nearly 3 million people,” he pointed out.
Source: UN News
Fighting pushes Somalis, Islamist rebels, into Kenya
By Noor Ali
Monday, November 30, 2009
ISIOLO, Kenya (Reuters) - Hundreds of Somali refugees have fled to
Kenya after rebels suspected of links to al Qaeda seized a Somali town near the border, residents said.
Al Shabaab insurgents, who Washington says are a proxy for Osama bin Laden's group in Somalia, took control of Dhobley on Saturday after chasing rival Hizbul Islam rebels out of town.
Al Shabaab said a number of Hizbul Islam leaders had also sought
shelter across the border in Kenya after the fighting.
"A group of Somalis sneaked in late last night but three trucks with
more than 200 Somalis were intercepted by patrol officers at dawn
today and all those on board taken back to the border," said
Abdirizak, a Kenyan resident near the border.
There were also fears among Kenyan residents that al Shabaab might carry the fight across the border.
"We are worried. Al Shabaab has threatened to attack Kenya. They are very close and some of us might leave the border area."
A senior al Shabaab official said in June the insurgents might
"invade" Kenya unless it reduced troop numbers along the border near places such as Dhobley. [ID:nLB249759]
Police deputy commander for the region, Paul Kuria, said security
officials were patrolling the frontier.
Al Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Hassan Yaqub told Reuters that some Hizbul Islam leaders were also now sheltering in Kenya.
The two rebel groups have been fighting the Western-backed government in the capital Mogadishu, but a battle for control of the lucrative southern port of Kismayu has pitted the former allies against each other.
"I can confirm that Ibrahim Shugri, Moalim Mohamed and Hassan Mahdi passed the so called border between Kenya and Somalia and have reached Garissa," he said, referring to Hizbul Islam leaders.
"Our intelligence informed us they had a meeting with Kenyan officers in a hotel and they want to go on to Nairobi. We've been fighting them because they were sent here from Kenya."
Yaqub said that al Shabaab had also met Sheikh Hassan Turki, in
Dhobley. The hardline cleric is on a U.S. list of al Qaeda associates
in Somalia.
Turki is Hizbul deputy leader and the commander of southern Somalia's Ras Kamboni militant group. He denounced al Shabaab in September for unilaterally declaring they would run Kismayu.
"Some our officials met Hassan Turki in Dhobley, and as you know,
Turki is one of the brave Islamist leaders in east Africa. They spoke
with him about current issues," Yaqub said.
The purpose of the meeting was unclear, but if al Shabaab rebels
convince Turki to join them, it would be a blow to Hizbul leader
Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys.
(Additional reporting by Ibrahim Mohamed and Mohamed Ahmed in
Mogadishu; Editing by Helen Nyambura-Mwaura) ((For Interactive factbox on Somalia please click here)) ((Email: nairobi.newsroom@reuters.com;
tel: +254 20 222 4717
+254 20 222 4717)) (For more Reuters
Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit:
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