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| Africa Horn |
| Somali minibus attack toll rises |
| 2008-08-17 |
| More bodies have been discovered in Somalia, near the scene of an attack on two minibuses outside Mogadishu. Local people returning to their farms after the attack said they had found a further 16 bodies, bringing to nearly 60 the number of civilians killed. The Ethiopian forces started shooting after their military convoy was hit by a roadside bomb, witnesses said. Islamist insurgents have beeng carrying out frequent raids in the Mogadishu area. After the latest attack on minibuses, witness Sahra Nor Osma told the Associated Press news agency: "Ethiopian convoys opened fire into different areas where thousands of displaced people were living; they killed everyone on the road." Another witness Fadumo Kheyre told AP: "Blood was pouring out of the buses." In a separate incident on Friday, insurgents attacked the convoy of President Abdullahi Yusuf as it was leaving for Ethiopia for talks over the country's fragile ceasefire. Following that attack, Ethiopian-backed government troops responded by opening fire, killing five civilians. President Abdullahi Yusuf has gone to Djibouti for talks with his estranged Prime Minister Hussein Nur Adde. The discussions are aimed at resolving a power struggle between the two men which could in turn affect a ceasefire agreement signed with the opposition in June. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #5 What we've seen posted about Somalia over the last couple of months highlights the need for a proactive force, rather than a reactive force. Therre is also a need to develop intel assets in the population. Problems are: The clan structure is much tighter than the tribes in Iraq are, The Ethiopians, the AU and the troops of the rump Somali government are, at best, typical African troops and also lack sufficient intel/counterintel ability. The money-sources backing the Islamic Courts and certain clans continue to have great influence. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2008-08-17 22:07 |
| #4 So will the poisoned Khat have any useful effect? |
| Posted by: 3dc 2008-08-17 15:40 |
| #3 What we've seen posted about Somalia over the last couple of months highlights the need for a proactive force, rather than a reactive force. If you wait to be attacked, your chance of inflicting any damage on the attacking group is small. If you go looking for them, you'll probably end up finding - and killing - some of them. That's the difference between pre-surge and post-surge Iraq, and why the Brits had such a difficult time in Basra. Nothing is going to change in Somalia (except maybe get worse) until there's a large enough force there to do some proactive raiding. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2008-08-17 15:14 |
| #2 This seems to be a pattern for the Brave, Brave Lions of Islam: find a group of civilians to blend in with, shoot at or bomb some opposing military people, and run away while those civilians get all shot up by return fire. Actually, it's a variation of several tactics used by various insurgencies, guerrilla groups, and Asian marxists over the past decades. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2008-08-17 14:02 |
| #1 This seems to be a pattern for the Brave, Brave Lions of Islam: find a group of civilians to blend in with, shoot at or bomb some opposing military people, and run away while those civilians get all shot up by return fire. The media and 'righteous indignation' will win you the battles your bullets won't. In fact, it is so effective you can even dispense with the riskiest part and just shoot the civilians yourself and claim it was enemy fire. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2008-08-17 09:45 |