Somalia: Large Blast Rocks Outside Somali Parliament
By Staff Writer
MOGADISHU---A large explosion believed to be a car bomb has gone off near the Somali parliament building in the capital Mogadishu, Killing one person in the latest attack against the newly elected Somali government.
The Wednesday blast that was from a car parked close to the parliament is yet to be identified whether it was a suicide or a remotely set off explosive device. A body of a Somali government security official dressed in military uniform was seen lying at the scene immediately after the explosion.
"The explosion went off outside the Somali parliament. We don't know if it was a suicide bomber. Police are here and they've surrounded the area," a witness was quoted by the Reuters news agency saying.
No group has so far claimed the responsibility for the bomb attack, though claims have put the al-Qaeda linked Somali Islamist group al-Shabab on the spot over the explosion.
The explosion comes after al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri earlier this week called on all Muslims to support al-Shabab in its pursuit to overthrow the newly elected federal government and replace it with Islamic law.
Al-Shabab has vowed to stage insurgency against President Sheikh Mohamud’s government saying it was formed by enemies of Somalia. Barely a week after president Mohamud took office in September the Islamist group staged a bomb and gun attack that was foiled by African Union peacekeepers, outside a hotel in Mogadishu where the president had been staying, during a meeting with foreign delegation, killing 8 people.
Another suicide bomb attack days later targeting a famed restaurant in the capital left 14 people dead including three journalists.
Since take over of the port city of Kismayu by the joint Kenyan troops and government forces, has dealt a major blow to al-Shabab which in addition has recently faced major exit of its fighters who have since joined the government forces following swelling attacks.
Kismayu was the last major bastion held by the militant fighters that has been its major source of revenues and supplies from the lucrative charcoal exports, though it still controls swathes of territories in central and southern Somalia.
The Kenyan forces who so far have been integrated into the 17000-strong AU force launched an incursion into Somalia to root out al-Shabab it blamed for several kidnappings within its territory.
In the face of the mounting offense that has driven them from the pockets it controlled in Mogadishu and other strategic territories, al-Shabab has since resorted to suicide bomb and grenade attacks along roadsides and other popular meeting places in the capital.