Tue, 26 Jan 2010
Nairobi/Mogadishu (Earth Times) - Somalia's Islamist al-Shabaab militia on Tuesday claimed responsibility for the previous night's bombing of the headquarters of African Union peacekeepers in the capital Mogadishu. "Three soldiers sustained minor injuries while several other Somalis were killed and wounded," African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) spokesman Major Barigye Bahuko told the German Press Agency.
The exact number of casualties was not clear but civilians were believed to be among the dead from the heavy explosion that reportedly occurred at a clinic in the troop compound, he said.
Hours before the bombing, the United Nations' Special Envoy to Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, and the AU's representative to Somalia, Boubacar Diarra held talks with Somali leaders in Mogadishu.
"We killed some of the senior medical officers in the mercenary base ... it is part of our retaliation attack against the occupiers," al-Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mahomoud Rage was quoted in reports as having announced after the bombing.
Al-Shabaab targeted the AU headquarters last year in a suicide bombing that claimed several lives, including that of the mission's deputy commander.
Somalia has had no functioning government since 1991. The transitional government of Sheikh Sharif Ahmed does not have full control of the country - even in Mogadishu, where insurgents hold sway.
The AU peacekeeping force, comprised of around 5,000 troops from Uganda and Burundi, are tasked with securing the government quarter and the airport.
Nairobi/Mogadishu (Earth Times) - Somalia's Islamist al-Shabaab militia on Tuesday claimed responsibility for the previous night's bombing of the headquarters of African Union peacekeepers in the capital Mogadishu. "Three soldiers sustained minor injuries while several other Somalis were killed and wounded," African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) spokesman Major Barigye Bahuko told the German Press Agency.
The exact number of casualties was not clear but civilians were believed to be among the dead from the heavy explosion that reportedly occurred at a clinic in the troop compound, he said.
Hours before the bombing, the United Nations' Special Envoy to Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, and the AU's representative to Somalia, Boubacar Diarra held talks with Somali leaders in Mogadishu.
"We killed some of the senior medical officers in the mercenary base ... it is part of our retaliation attack against the occupiers," al-Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mahomoud Rage was quoted in reports as having announced after the bombing.
Al-Shabaab targeted the AU headquarters last year in a suicide bombing that claimed several lives, including that of the mission's deputy commander.
Somalia has had no functioning government since 1991. The transitional government of Sheikh Sharif Ahmed does not have full control of the country - even in Mogadishu, where insurgents hold sway.
The AU peacekeeping force, comprised of around 5,000 troops from Uganda and Burundi, are tasked with securing the government quarter and the airport.
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