(WARNING): Article contains propaganda!
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Somalia’s hardline Shebaab insurgents have agreed to join forces with a smaller southern militia and both groups professed their loyalty to Al Qaeda.
The failed Horn of Africa state has not had an effective central government for nearly two decades, leading to the rise of warlords, heavily armed criminal gangs and pirates who have been terrorizing shipping off its long coastline.
Western security agencies say the country has also become a safe haven for Islamist militants, including foreign jihadists, who are using it to plot attacks across the region and beyond.
In a statement dated last Friday but seen by Reuters yesterday, Shebaab and the smaller Kismayu-based Kamboni rebel group said they had put their differences behind them.
“We have agreed to join the international jihad of Al Qaeda ... We have also agreed to unite Shebaab and Kamboni mujahideen to liberate the Horn of Africa community who are under the feet of minority Christians,” the statement said.
“We have united to revive the military strength, economy and politics of our mujahideen to stop the war created by the colonizers, and to prevent the attacks of the Christians who invaded our country.”
In this context, “Christians” is believed to refer to Ethiopian troops who invaded Somalia in late 2006 and then withdrew, and to Ugandan and Burundian peacekeepers serving with the African Union’s AMISOM force in Mogadishu.
The statement appeared to have been signed by senior rebels including Sheikh Hassan Turki, commander of the Kamboni militia, and the reclusive Shebaab leader, Ahmed Abdi Godane.
Security experts believe Shebaab’s total manpower is no more 5,000, while there are a few hundred Kamboni militiamen.
In the capital Mogadishu, insurgents fired mortar bombs at the presidential palace overnight, prompting return fire by troops there that killed at least 16 people, medical officials and residents said.
“Our team collected eight bodies of civilians who were killed in the shelling and 55 others who were injured, some of them seriously,” said Ali Musa, the head of the war-ravaged city’s ambulance service.
Witness Abdulahi Nure said four other civilians were killed by the artillery fire in another neighborhood.
A police official accused the radical insurgents of using the civilian population as human shields.
“They (rebels) fired mortar shells from the civilian populated areas using them as human shields,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
“The terrorist fighters fired mortar shells at the palace and the AU peacekeepers responded targeting where those mortars were coming from,” he added.
One witness, Mohamed Aban Ilbir, said around 20 heavy artillery shells hit his the district of Suqaholaha.
“We are still shocked at this indiscriminate shelling,” he said.
Violence has killed at least 21,000 people in the failed Horn of Africa nation since the start of 2007 and driven another 1.5mn from their homes, helping trigger one of the world’s worst humanitarian emergencies.
Shebaab rebels routinely fire at the white-washed hilltop Villa Somalia palace compound from other parts of Mogadishu. Troops at the palace often launch shells back.
Residents and medical officials said several bombs struck around the city’s northern Suqa Holaha, or livestock market. “At least 16 people died and 71 others were wounded in four districts of Mogadishu,” said Ali Yasin Gedi, vice chairman of the Elman Peace and Human Rights Organisation.
Shebaab rebels and Hizb ul-Islam, another hardline Islamist militia, have repeatedly attacked Somali government forces and the AU peacekeepers since launching an offensive last May.
Source: Gulf Times.
Link: http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=340583&version=1&template_id=39&parent_id=21.
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Somalia’s hardline Shebaab insurgents have agreed to join forces with a smaller southern militia and both groups professed their loyalty to Al Qaeda.
The failed Horn of Africa state has not had an effective central government for nearly two decades, leading to the rise of warlords, heavily armed criminal gangs and pirates who have been terrorizing shipping off its long coastline.
Western security agencies say the country has also become a safe haven for Islamist militants, including foreign jihadists, who are using it to plot attacks across the region and beyond.
In a statement dated last Friday but seen by Reuters yesterday, Shebaab and the smaller Kismayu-based Kamboni rebel group said they had put their differences behind them.
“We have agreed to join the international jihad of Al Qaeda ... We have also agreed to unite Shebaab and Kamboni mujahideen to liberate the Horn of Africa community who are under the feet of minority Christians,” the statement said.
“We have united to revive the military strength, economy and politics of our mujahideen to stop the war created by the colonizers, and to prevent the attacks of the Christians who invaded our country.”
In this context, “Christians” is believed to refer to Ethiopian troops who invaded Somalia in late 2006 and then withdrew, and to Ugandan and Burundian peacekeepers serving with the African Union’s AMISOM force in Mogadishu.
The statement appeared to have been signed by senior rebels including Sheikh Hassan Turki, commander of the Kamboni militia, and the reclusive Shebaab leader, Ahmed Abdi Godane.
Security experts believe Shebaab’s total manpower is no more 5,000, while there are a few hundred Kamboni militiamen.
In the capital Mogadishu, insurgents fired mortar bombs at the presidential palace overnight, prompting return fire by troops there that killed at least 16 people, medical officials and residents said.
“Our team collected eight bodies of civilians who were killed in the shelling and 55 others who were injured, some of them seriously,” said Ali Musa, the head of the war-ravaged city’s ambulance service.
Witness Abdulahi Nure said four other civilians were killed by the artillery fire in another neighborhood.
A police official accused the radical insurgents of using the civilian population as human shields.
“They (rebels) fired mortar shells from the civilian populated areas using them as human shields,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
“The terrorist fighters fired mortar shells at the palace and the AU peacekeepers responded targeting where those mortars were coming from,” he added.
One witness, Mohamed Aban Ilbir, said around 20 heavy artillery shells hit his the district of Suqaholaha.
“We are still shocked at this indiscriminate shelling,” he said.
Violence has killed at least 21,000 people in the failed Horn of Africa nation since the start of 2007 and driven another 1.5mn from their homes, helping trigger one of the world’s worst humanitarian emergencies.
Shebaab rebels routinely fire at the white-washed hilltop Villa Somalia palace compound from other parts of Mogadishu. Troops at the palace often launch shells back.
Residents and medical officials said several bombs struck around the city’s northern Suqa Holaha, or livestock market. “At least 16 people died and 71 others were wounded in four districts of Mogadishu,” said Ali Yasin Gedi, vice chairman of the Elman Peace and Human Rights Organisation.
Shebaab rebels and Hizb ul-Islam, another hardline Islamist militia, have repeatedly attacked Somali government forces and the AU peacekeepers since launching an offensive last May.
Source: Gulf Times.
Link: http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=340583&version=1&template_id=39&parent_id=21.
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