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Africa Horn
Three Killed in Somali Capital Car Bomb
2012-12-15
[An Nahar] A boom-mobile in the Somali capital killed three people and maimed several others in the latest attack in war-ravaged Mogadishu, police said Friday.

"The car went kaboom! while the driver was moving in it... three people were killed," said police officer Aden Mohammed, adding it was not clear if the driver had been targeted. "We are still investigating the blast."

No group immediately grabbed credit for the kaboom, but the al-Qaeda linked Shabaab gun-hung tough guys have conducted a series of guerrilla style attacks in the capital since pulling out of fixed positions there last year.

The gun-hung tough guys have vowed to topple President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud, who took office in September after being chosen by the country's new parliament, bringing an end to eight years of transitional rule.

An offensive led by the 17,00-strong African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
force alongside Somali forces has stripped the Shabaab of most of the towns they held.

But the Shabaab remain a potent threat, still controlling rural areas as well as carrying out guerrilla attacks -- including suicide kabooms -- in areas apparently under government control.

Some of the fighters have reportedly relocated to the Galgala region of the northern Golis mountains in Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland
...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion...
region.

The Golis mountains, straddling the mostly non-existent border between the autonomous state of Puntland and self-declared independent Somaliland, are honeycombed with caves and difficult to access.
Posted by:Fred

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