From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Sun May 02 2010 - 17:43:14 EDT
Explosion at Somali mosque in port city-witnesses
Sun May 2, 2010 7:40pm GMT
* Third mosque attack since Tuesday
* Al Shabaab condemns blast, blames anti-Muslim forces
(Adds more wounded, details, quotes)
By Ibrahim Mohamed
MOGADISHU, May 2 (Reuters) - An explosion in a mosque in the southern Somali
port city of Kismayu on Sunday killed at least one person and wounded about
10 worshippers, witnesses said.
"We were in the middle of prayer when something, we are guessing a hand
grenade, hit the mosque," Ahmed Yusuf, who was inside at the time, told
Reuters by phone.
It was the third attack on a mosque in Somalia in a week. A landmine killed
one person outside a mosque in the capital on Tuesday and two blasts at
another mosque in Mogadishu on Saturday killed nearly 40 people and wounded
scores.
The mosque attacks are a new phenomenon in the Muslim Horn of Africa nation
that has been plagued by violence and anarchy since dictator Mohamed Siad
Barre was ousted in 1991.
"The bomb was thrown in a window of the mosque as the worshippers were
starting the prayer," said another witness in Kismayu, Mohamed Abdullahi.
The victims in Saturday's attack were mostly members of al Shabaab, an
insurgent group linked to al Qaeda that has been fighting the Western-backed
government since the start of 2007.
Another insurgent group, Hizbul Islam, is also battling to topple the
administration of President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, who is himself a former
Islamist rebel.
It was still not clear who was behind the mosque blasts as no one has
claimed responsibility. Residents suspected they could be the result of
infighting between the insurgent groups.
Al Shabaab and Hizbul Islam have fought each other several times since
September for control of the lucrative port. At the moment, al Shabaab has
the upper hand in Kismayu and much of southern and central Somalia.
The government has been hemmed into just a few blocks of the capital since
an insurgent offensive last year.
Al Shabaab in Kismayu strongly condenmed Sunday's attack.
Abu Baker Hassan, chairman of the Kismayu administration, said the bomb was
linked to Saturday's attack in Mogadishu and was designed to eradicate
Muslims.
"We have to wake up and defend Islam," he said.
Sofia Hussen, who lives by the mosque in the Gulwade area of the city, said
she had seen two dead bodies, including that of an old man. She said people
were running away from the area in the dark as they feared there might be
another attack. (Reporting by Ibrahim Mohamed and Abdi Guled in Mogadishu
and Sahra Abdi in Nairobi; editing by David Clarke and Elizabeth Fullerton)
C Thomson Reuters 2010 All rights reserved
Somali insurgents seize pirate haven
Sun May 2, 2010 12:17pm GMT
By Ibrahim Mohamed and Abdi Guled
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali insurgent group Hizbul Islam seized the pirate
haven of Haradheere on Sunday without a fight and pledged to take control of
more towns in the region, the rebel group said.
Haradheere, and Hobyo further up the coast, are two of the main bases for
pirates operating out of Somalia. The gunmen have made tens of millions of
dollars by hijacking merchant vessels, bringing them to the coast and
demanding ransoms.
So far, neither Hizbul Islam nor al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab rebels have been
directly involved in piracy, a business that has flourished in the absence
of strong government and any rule of law in the Horn of Africa nation.
"Our Mujahideen fighters are in Haradheere now, they will cross into the
other towns in the region," Sheikh Mohamed Osman Arus, Hizbul Islam
spokesman, told Reuters.
He denied the group wanted to get involved in piracy.
Pirates in Haradheere, however, said Hizbul Islam sent agents to the coastal
town demanding a slice of the business a few days ago, but the pirates
refused.
"They came into the town, they want to have their own pirates in here and
oust us," said a pirate called Hassan, who was fleeing the town, told
Reuters.
"Some of their agents came to us two days ago and asked us to work with them
and pay. We rejected this and they entered today," he said.
HOSTAGES
Hizbul Islam and al Shabaab have been fighting to topple the Western-backed
government since the start of 2007. More than 21,000 civilians have been
killed in the failed state since the start of the insurgency.
Andrew Mwangura, coordinator of the East African Seafarers' Assistance
Programme, said there were three hijacked vessels being held at Haradheere
at the moment, the UBT Ocean, MV Rak Afrikana and the Sakoba.
Islamist fighters with the Islamic Courts Union, a movement that briefly
ruled the capital Mogadishu in 2006 before being ousted by Ethiopian
soldiers, clamped down on Somali piracy as they tried to impose law and
order.
"But I'm afraid this time around it might put the lives of the hostages in
danger," Mwangura told Reuters.
Some residents said they feared Haradheere would now become a battleground
if the pro-government moderate Sufi Muslim group Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca came
to fight Hizbul Islam.
C Thomson Reuters 2010 All rights reserved
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