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| Africa Horn |
| Somalia suicide bomber 'was from Denmark' |
| 2009-12-10 |
| A suicide bomber who killed at least 22 people at a graduation in Somalia was brought up in Denmark, officials say. Poor Svën, we hardly knew him ... Somali Information Minister Dahir Gelle told the BBC that the bomber's parents, who live in Copenhagen, identified their son's body from photographs. Reports say he left Somalia when he was a child and spent 20 years in Denmark, before returning to Somalia last year. He reportedly joined the hard-line Islamist group al-Shabab - although they have previously denied the attack. The Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET) also says the bomber was from Denmark, according to local media. The Copenhagen Post quoted PET as saying the man was in his 20s and was "a Somali citizen who had residence in Denmark". "As PET has indicated numerous times in the past, there are people with ties to Denmark who have gone through militant Islamic training and radicalisation and who are involved in terror-related activities in several countries, including in Somalia," a PET statement said, according to the newspaper. The bombing took place at a graduation for medical students on 3 December in one of the few parts of the capital, Mogadishu, which is controlled by the government. The students had been graduating from Benadir University, which was set up in 2002 to train doctors to replace those who had fled overseas or been killed in the civil war. Three ministers were among the dead. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #1 Bringing the benefits of civilization to their backward homeland, one boom at a time. /s |
| Posted by: tipover 2009-12-10 17:57 |