Somali truck bomb: students among scores killed in blast

Al-Shabaab claims responsibility for attack, which is biggest since al-Qaida linked group withdrew from Mogadishu Students waiting for their scholarship results were among scores killed when Somalia’s insurgents exploded a truck bomb in Mogadishu in the biggest attack since they withdrew most of their fighters from the capital in August. A truck loaded with drums of fuel blew up at a security checkpoint outside a compound housing government ministries, including the Ministry of Education, in K4 (Kilometre 4), a normally bustling neighbourhood controlled by government forces and African Union peacekeepers. “The casualties are mostly students and parents who were waiting for results of scholarships from the Ministry of Higher Education,” the government said. Mogadishu’s ambulance co-ordinator, Ali Muse, told Reuters at least 70 had been killed, with many more injured in a crumbling, hungry city that has known little but chaos and war for two decades. Television footage showed people rushing to move the dead and injured from twisted cars that were still smoking under charred trees. Bodies lay on the blackened ground, covered in bright shawls and wraps as ambulances weaved through the wreckage. Al-Shabaab, which is linked to al-Qaida, claimed responsibility. The insurgents, who are fighting the weak UN-backed transition government, threatened to carry out attacks on government installations after they withdrew from Mogadishu. “The attack shows that the danger from terrorists is not yet over and that there are obviously still people who want to derail the advances the Somali people have made towards peace,” the government said. “This is the biggest attack since al-Shabaab was defeated,” said Lieutenant Colonel Paddy Ankunda, spokesman for the AU peacekeeping force, Amisom. “This was expected because we knew they would go more into this kind of attack, including suicide attacks.” France called the bombing a “vile terrorist attack” while the UK Foreign Office minister for Africa, Henry Bellingham, said the fact that many of the victims were students and parents showed “the shocking brutality of this attack”. The UN special representative for Somalia, Augustine Mahiga, described the attack as “senseless and cowardly”. “Although the extremists have left the capital, it is very difficult to prevent these types of terrorist attacks which we have consistently warned are likely to be on the increase,” he said in a statement, calling on the international community to urgently provide more resources to AMISOM. After the al-Shabaab withdrawal, government forces and Amisom troops were able to extend their control over most of Mogadishu, but they have faced criticism for not capitalising enough on apparent weaknesses and divisions within insurgent ranks. Al-Shabaab still controls large swaths of central and southern Somalia. In recent weeks, the group, which includes foreign fighters from western nations as well as Afghanistan and Iraq, has attacked government troops and militia near the Kenyan border, prompting Kenyan security forces to beef up their presence. Kenyan officials have also blamed al-Shabaab for the kidnapping of two western tourists in the past two weeks. Somalia is also in the grip of a famine, with the UN saying tens of thousands have already died with up to 750,000 at risk of starvation. Some analysts said Tuesday’s attack might prompt some international agencies to pull out. This is not the first time al-Shabaab, which means youth in Arabic, has targeted a new generation of Somalis. The insurgents, who want to impose a harsh version of sharia across the Horn of Africa nation, have also used suicide bombs in the past to attack AMISOM and government buildings. In 2009, a suicide bomber attacked a graduation ceremony, killing 24 people, including four government ministers. Somalia is expected to hold elections for a new parliament and president by August next year. The country has become a byword for anarchy since warlords ousted military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. Somalia Africa Global terrorism guardian.co.uk

Posted by on October 4, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.