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| Africa Horn |
| '7 Dead' as Car Bomb Hits Convoy of African Union Troops in Somalia |
| 2014-03-18 |
| [An Nahar] A convoy of the 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... 's AMISOM force was targeted by a boom-mobile just outside the Somali capital on Monday, witnesses and a Somali army source said, though it was not immediately clear if there were any casualties. Contacted by Agence La Belle France Presse, a front man for the Shabaab Islamist group said the group carried out the attack, saying it killed seven people, including three foreigners. The attack took place near a checkpoint on the road linking Mogadishu and the town of Afgoye, "where a jacket wallah rammed his car into an AMISOM convoy," witness Abdulahi Mohammed said. "There was a heavy kaboom at the Alamada area... , we don't know about the casualties but I saw military ambulances rushing to the scene," he said. A Somali military official, Omar Adan, confirmed the attack, but declined to give the number of casualties. He however blamed gunnies from the Shabaab, which have multiplied attacks in the Somali capital since the start of the year. "Al-Qaeda linked bad boys, who have lost ground, are attempting desperate attacks," Adan said. On Saturday, a boom-mobile went off in central Mogadishu near a hotel popular with government officials and businessmen, injuring at least one person, though no claims were made for the attack. In February alone, major attacks in Mogadishu have included a boom-mobile at the gates of the airport, a major suicide kaboom on the presidential palace and a boom-mobileing on a cafe close to the intelligence headquarters. Hardline Shabaab turbans once controlled most of southern and central Somalia but withdrew from fixed positions in Mogadishu two years ago. However, a hangover is the wrath of grapes... guerrilla units stage regular deadly attacks in the capital, and also grabbed credit for last year's deadly attack in neighboring Kenya, when commandos stormed the upmarket Westgate mall, shooting shoppers and hurling grenades. Government and AU troops have also come under repeated hit-and-run attacks in rural areas surrounding the settlements they capture from the Shabaab. |
| Posted by:Fred |