Witness: 11 dead in Somalia suicide car bombings

By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN, Associated Press Writer

MOGADISHU, Somalia – A witness says she saw 11 bodies after two car bombs blew up at the main base of African Union peacekeepers in Mogadishu.

The witness, who did not want to be named for fear of retribution, counted 11 corpses at the scene. It was unclear if they included the remains of the suicide bombers.

The blasts Thursday blew out nearby windows and shrouded the sky in black smoke. The AU said peacekeepers were wounded, but did not elaborate. The African Medical and Research Foundation said the U.N. has asked for help evacuating 15 "critically injured" people.

An Islamist insurgent group claimed responsibility for the attack at Mogadishu's airport and said the targets were senior peacekeeping officials and Somali government officials who were meeting there.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Suicide bombers in explosives-laden cars with U.N. logos drove into the main base of African Union peacekeepers Thursday, detonating two massive blasts that blew out nearby windows and shrouded the sky in black smoke.

The AU said peacekeepers were wounded, but did not elaborate. The African Medical and Research Foundation said the U.N. has asked for help evacuating 15 "critically injured" people.

An Islamist insurgent group claimed responsibility for the attack at Mogadishu's airport and said the targets were senior peacekeeping officials and Somali government officials who were meeting there.

The attack came two days after the group, al-Shabab, vowed revenge for a U.S. commando raid that killed an al-Qaida operative in Somalia.

An airport security officer said the explosions were caused by two white Land Cruisers with United Nations logos.

"The soldiers at the gate assumed they were U.N. cars and opened the gate for them," the security official said, asking that his name not be used because he is not authorized to speak to the media. "When the cars entered one of them sped toward a petrol depot and exploded. The other one exploded in a nearby area."

U.N. spokeswoman Dawn Elizabeth Blalock says the organization has "no confirmation that they were U.N. cars."

A senior al-Shabab official, claiming responsibility, said: "Our holy fighters carried out double suicide attacks on the base of the African Union." He asked that his name not be used because he is not authorized to speak publicly.

"The entire airport shook, and the windows in the offices shattered," said Yasin Ahmed, an immigration officer at the airport.

The attack was one of the most brazen by al-Shabab and underscored the level of lawlessness and violence to which Somalia has fallen. Many experts fear the country's lawlessness could provide a haven for al-Qaida, offering a place for terrorists to train and gather strength — much like Afghanistan in the 1990s.

Suicide attacks — virtually unheard of in Somalia before 2007 — have increased in Somalia in recent years, although most of the violence in this bloodstained country is from gunbattles and mortar fire. There have been about a dozen suicide attacks since Islamic insurgents stepped up their attacks against the Western-backed backed government in 2007.

In a statement, the AU said it would remain "resolute in its commitment to support the Somali people." The peacekeeping force has long lamented that it is undermanned. Out of a planned 8,000 troops, there are fewer than 5,000.

Bob Kioko, a spokesman for African Medical and Research Foundation, said U.N. Somalia has asked them to evacuate 15 people who were "critically injured." AMREF was sending four planes for the evacuation, he said.

Earlier Thursday, al-Shabab issued conditions for the release of a French security agent being held hostage, demanding that France stop supporting Somalia's government and withdraw its warships from anti-piracy patrols.

The French government immediately rejected the conditions.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told France-Info radio that Paris' support for the embattled Somali government remains firm, noting he has twice met with Somali President Sheik Sharif and his ministers, who "represent Somalia."

Al-Shabab also demanded that France exert pressure to force African Union peacekeepers out of the country and "release all the prisoners of the holy warriors held in many areas, which we will reveal later."

The Frenchman, whose identity has not been released, was seized along with another agent July 14 in the capital, Mogadishu. The pair were in the country to train Somali government forces, which are fighting Islamist militiamen.

The kidnappers separated the two men. The other agent escaped in August while his captors slept.

Al-Shabab vowed on Tuesday to retaliate against Western interests for Monday's U.S.-led commando raid in rural southern Somalia that left six dead, including Nabhan, one of the most-wanted al-Qaida operatives in the region.

The use of a helicopter attack rather than a missile strike from the sea or an unmanned Predator drone, suggests that the U.S. wanted to both prevent any civilian deaths and minimize local anger. But al-Shabab vowed swift retaliation.