(SomaliNet) The transitional government in Somalia said on Wednesday that its security forces in Mogadishu had arrested three Islamist suspects and seized large quantity of weapons and explosives. Salad Ali Jele, the deputy minister of defense, told today the local media that the suspects were in the act of preparing an attack when the government troops captured them from the outskirt of Mogadishu city. | “The forces have raided a house in Mogadishu where they caught three men and their weapons including dozens of automatic rifles, 37 mortar rounds, 120 artillery shells, bombs, antitank mines and other explosive devices.” |
The defense official said the house the forces raided today was the base where the anti government attacks were organized in past. Jele pointed out that the government suspects there are more such places where the attacks were plotted and the security will soon discover them.
The move came hours after Salad Jelle, said that his government had apprehended at least five terror suspects for several explosions in Mogadishu, the Somalia capital. He said the security forces were tracking down the perpetrators who staged the guerilla-style attacks against the government and Ethiopian military bases in the capital.
It was for the first time that government troops arrested Islamist suspects and seized weapons since they took control of the capital late December last year 2006 after rooting out Islamic Courts with the help of the Ethiopian forces.