Bomb hits Somali police car day after deadly cafe attack
Mon Oct 13, 2014 10:11am GMT
MOGADISHU Oct 13 (Reuters) - A bomb tore through a senior policeman's car in
Somalia's capital on Monday, a day after suspected Islamist militants
shelled an area where the president was due to speak and attacked a city
centre cafe, witnesses and officials said.
No one claimed responsibility for the assaults which officials said wounded
two mechanics working on the car on Monday and killed 13 people at
Mogadishu's Oromo Cafe on Sunday.
It was not immediately clear if the shells caused any casualties on Sunday
in the Huriwa district where President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was due to
attend celebrations marking the anniversary of the violence-wracked country
getting its flag.
Al Qaeda-linked group al Shabaab has launched a string of bomb and gun
attacks in Mogadishu and other centres -- and promised to step up action
after African and Somali troops pushed it out of a coastal stronghold a week
ago.
The bomb was planted in the car of the police chief of the city's Blacksea
area, near the bustling Bakara market on Monday, police major Ahmed Kassim
told Reuters.
"The car exploded as two mechanics started the engine to test the car," he
added, blaming al Shabaab.
The evening before, attackers detonated a car bomb in front of the popular
city centre Oromo Cafe, leaving its entrance charred and spattered with
blood.
Shortly before that, five shells were fired into the city's Huriwa district,
witnesses said, though the government did not comment on those accounts
President Mohamud, who was not injured, addressed the anniversary event in
Huriwa later in evening and told the crowd the death toll from the Oromo
cafe bombing had risen to 13. Early reports had said seven people died.
"They have killed innocent people who were just resting. It shows the
hopelessness of al Shabaab," he said.
Al Shabaab wants to topple the government, which it says is a puppet of
Western powers, and aims to drive out African Union peacekeepers, who still
provide the backbone of security as the Somali army is slowly rebuilt after
years of civil war.
Al Shabaab has been steadily driven out of towns in its heartland of south
and central Somalia by an African and Somali military offensive. On Oct. 5,
the group lost control of Barawe port, which had offered a conduit for arms
imports.
Officials and diplomats say the loss of Barawe and the U.S. military strike
that killed al Shabaab's leader last month have dealt a hefty blow, but it
was far too soon to declare victory over a group skilled at guerrilla
warfare.
Al Shabaab said last week it would prove it was still a potent force.
(Reporting by Abdi Sheikh; Writing by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Andrew
Heavens)
Islamist rebels blamed for car bomb in Somalia, at least seven dead
Sun Oct 12, 2014 6:09pm GMT
* Islamist al Shabaab group had promised more attacks
* Government struggled to halt attacks in Mogadishu
* Rebels lost major coastal stronghold a week ago (Updates death toll to at
least seven dead, details on al Shabaab)
By Abdi Sheikh
MOGADISHU, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Suspected Islamist rebels detonated a car bomb
in front of a popular cafe in the centre of the Somali capital on Sunday
evening, killing at least seven people, police and the emergency services
said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the Islamist militant
group al Shabaab has frequently set off bombs or launched gun attacks in
Mogadishu. It promised more attacks after it lost control of a major coastal
stronghold a week ago.
"We believe al Shabaab is behind the blast," police officer Major Nuur Farah
told Reuters, saying the venue had been busy.
Mogadishu ambulance coordinator, Abdiqadir Abdirahman, said at least seven
people were killed and 15 wounded had been taken to hospital, some in a
serious condition.
Reuters witnesses at the scene, which is on a major Mogadishu thoroughfare,
saw at least three dead bodies, the gate and chairs of the Oromo cafe were
destroyed and blood was spattered at the scene. The explosion was also near
a hotel.
The wail of ambulance sirens filled the air in the city, which the
government is struggling to secure even though al Shabaab militants lost
control of the capital in 2011.
Al Shabaab wants to topple the government, which it says is a puppet of
Western powers, and aims to drive out African Union peacekeepers, who still
provide the backbone of security as the Somali army is slowly rebuilt to
form a national force.
Al Shabaab has been steadily driven out of towns in its heartland of south
and central Somalia by a military offensive of African and Somali troops. On
Oct. 5, the group lost control of Barawe port, which offered a conduit for
arms imports.
Officials and diplomats said losing Barawe, which also provided the group
valuable income from illegal charcoal exports, as well as last month's
killing by U.S. military strike of its chief, Ahmed Godane, were big blows,
but not enough to crush the group, which has proved skilled at guerrilla
warfare.
The group had said last week it would prove it was still a potent force to
those who said it had been weakened, describing abandoning Barawe as a
tactical withdrawal.
(Additional reporting by Abdirahman Hussein and Feisal Omar; Writing by
Edmund Blair; Editing by Robin Pomeroy and Stephen Powell)