Monday, May 25, 2009

Rebels claims Somali suicide bomb

The aftermath of the bombing

Somalia's Islamist militant group al-Shabab, accused of having links to al-Qaeda, has claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in the capital.

The group's political leader Shaykh Husayn Ali Fiidow said a teenager had carried out Sunday's attack, which killed six soldier and a civilian.

The bomber drove a pick-up truck to the gates of a police training school.

An upsurge in fighting over the past two weeks in Mogadishu has forced almost 60,000 people to flee.

About 200 people are thought to have been killed since the beginning of May, as Islamist insurgents try to topple the fragile interim government.

They want to impose a stricter version of Islamic law and they want African Union (AU) peacekeepers to leave Somalia.

The BBC's East Africa correspondent Will Ross says suicide bomb attacks are relatively rare in Somalia.

The last was in February, when two suicide bombers attacked an AU military base killing at least 11 Burundian soldiers.

Mr Fiidow warned that such attacks against government and AU targets would continue in the weeks and months ahead.

On Friday the government hit back at this latest action against it, attacking key rebel strongholds.

The AU is not involved in the fighting as the 4,300-strong force does not have a mandate to pursue the insurgents.

A moderate Islamist President, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, was elected by a unity government in January as part of a UN-backed peace initiative.

But even his introduction of Sharia law to the strongly Muslim country has not appeased the Islamist insurgents.

Mogadishu has been blighted by 18 years of almost uninterrupted civil unrest.

Source: BBC

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