Government blames Mogadishu attack on Islamists
Source: Reuters
(Adds details) By Guled Mohamed MOGADISHU, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Mortar bombs and rockets struck parts of Somalia's capital Mogadishu on Thursday in an attack a government security source blamed on Islamists. The source, who declined to be identified, said he was unaware of any deaths but witnesses said at least three people were killed in the late-night attack near the presidential palace in the Horn of Africa city. "It must be the Islamist remnants ... These people want to turn Somalia into another Iraq," said the source. "Mortars have hit the sea port, near the presidential palace. Most of the mortars hit residential houses. It is only civilians who were affected. These people have lost any support by this terrible act tonight." It was the latest in a number of flare-ups of violence since a two-week war over the New Year when the government, backed by Ethiopian forces, drove out an Islamist group that had controlled Mogadishu and much of the south for six months. The violence has underlined the challenges facing President Abdullahi Yusuf's government in its efforts to establish central rule in Somalia for the first time since 1991 when the ouster of a dictator turned the nation into a byword for anarchy. PEACEKEEPING FORCE The African Union (AU) is struggling to build a peacekeeping force for Somalia to fill a security vacuum after Ethiopian troops leave, but many African nations are nervous about sending soldiers to one of the world's most dangerous countries. "One mortar hit a house nearby, injuring a young boy. Another mortar has hit another house, killing a man and a girl," said Mohamed Deq, who witnessed Thursday's attack. "It is really terrifying. People are coming out of their houses, people are standing in the streets confused." A rocket-propelled grenade missed its apparent target of a hotel housing government troops and officials, said another witness, who declined to be named. Since their defeat the Islamists have scattered to southern Somalia but vowed a long guerrilla war, and there has been a wave of low-level insurgency-style strikes on Ethiopian and government targets. The transitional government, which was not popularly elected, went to Somalia in 2005 after being formed in Kenya. The government is the 14th attempt to establish central rule in Somalia since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, which led to 15 years of unchecked rule by warlords and their gunmen. Ethiopia says its mission in Somalia is complete and it wants the first AU peacekeeping units to deploy by mid-February. But an AU summit ended on Wednesday with a proposed force for Somalia still lacking firm commitments for thousands of troops. The United States was considering whether to have a diplomatic presence in Somalia, the State Department said on Thursday. Washington has not had a presence in Somalia since 1994 after a failed U.N. intervention which began as a military food-aid effort in 1992. It withdrew after the killing of U.S. troops in late 1993, depicted in the movie "Black Hawk Down". The United States accused the Islamists of harbouring al Qaeda militants. Top Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, seen by Washington as a potential key to reconciliation in Somalia, was out of custody in Kenya on Thursday and reported to be leaving soon for Yemen.Several Islamist leaders have taken refuge in Yemen. Ahmed, widely perceived as a moderate compared to other senior Islamists, was one of the two main leaders of the movement that seized Mogadishu in June. He surrendered to Kenyan authorities on the border with Somalia about 10 days ago.
| AlertNet news is provided by |  |
