From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Sat May 01 2010 - 19:18:40 EDT
Blasts at Somali mosque kill 39
Sat May 1, 2010 3:41pm GMT
* Second attack on a mosque this week
* Al Shabaab says senior official wounded
* Government denies involvement
(Updates death toll)
By Abdi Guled and Mohamed Ahmed
MOGADISHU, May 1 (Reuters) - Two explosions at a mosque in Somalia's capital
Mogadishu on Saturday killed 39 worshippers, wounded scores more and hurt a
senior member of the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab rebels.
It was the second attack this week on a mosque in Bakara Market, an area of
Mogadishu dominated by members of the country's two main rebel groups, al
Shabaab and Hizbul Islam.
Saturday's attack was at the Abdalla Shideye mosque which is used by al
Shabaab officials to deliver speeches. Most of the dead were said to be
members, officials and commanders of the hardline rebel group.
Relatives bent over dead bodies in a corner of the mosque below walls
pockmarked by shrapnel. Outside, sheets of cardboard covered other victims
and the wounded were pushed on wooden wheelbarrows to awaiting ambulances.
Some witnesses said a senior leader of al Shabaab, Fuad Mohamed Khalaf, was
the target. Khalaf, also known as Fuad Shongole, is on a list of people in
Somalia subject to U.N. sanctions because of their involvement in the
conflict.
"Thirty-two people died and more than 70 were wounded in the attack," Sheikh
Mohamed Ibrahim Bilaal, a senior al Shabaab official, told Reuters. "Sheikh
Fuad suffered wounds on the hands. The rescue workers are still taking
people to hospitals."
Nurses at Daynile hospital said seven of the badly wounded subsequently
died, taking the death toll to 39.
According to the U.N. Security Council, Khalaf, who also has Swedish
nationality, has raised funds for al Shabaab and was involved in two car
bomb attacks in the capital in April 2008.
IRAQ TACTICS
The mosque hit on Saturday is near the Abu Hureya mosque where a landmine
killed one person on Tuesday.
The mosque attacks are a new phenomenon in the Horn of Africa nation that
has been plagued by violence and anarchy since a dictator was ousted in
1991.
It was not clear who was behind the latest blasts. Residents suspected they
could be the result of infighting between the insurgent groups, which are
both trying to topple the Western-backed government.
Information Minister Dahir Mohamud Gelle denied any government involvement,
telling Reuters it would not attack the rebels where many other people were
gathered.
Al Shabaab has been fighting the Western-backed government of Somalia since
the start of 2007. It now controls much of southern and central Somalia and
has hemmed the government into a few blocks of the capital.
Hizbul Islam is also fighting to topple President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed's
administration. While the two groups have fought together against government
troops in Mogadishu, they have clashed on numerous occasions in the south of
the country.
The government has been promising for months to launch an offensive against
the rebels to regain control of Mogadishu.
Some residents said they feared the strikes were just the latest tactic
copied by Somali insurgents from Iraq, where Sunni and Shia insurgents often
target each others' mosques.
Al Shabaab has also used suicide bombers to devastating effect over the past
two years, killing five government ministers and dozens of African Union
peacekeeping troops. (Additional reporting by Ibrahim Mohamed, Feisel Omar
and Omar Faruk in Mogadishu and Sahra Abdi in Nairobi; Writing by David
Clarke; Editing by Maria Golovnina)
C Thomson Reuters 2010 All rights reserved
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