Somalia: Foreign Fighters Behind Weekend Attack.

Mogadishu---Foreign fighters were involved in the weekend insurgent attacks in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu that left dozens of people dead, Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon has said.

At least 29 people were killed in the bomb and gun attacks on Somalia’s main courts and near the airport in the capital on Sunday. Islamist group al-Shabab has claimed responsibility of the attacks, worst ever since the group lost its control in the capital to the African Union and government forces in 2011.

The Somali government has said nine gunmen were involved in the assault on the court, where six of them detonated suicide vests. A local media reported that one of the suicide bombers was a Somali-Canadian, Mahad Ali Dhoore.

He is reported to have set off a car bomb on a road near the heavily guarded airport, killing two Turkish aid workers.

The prime minister said several experienced foreign fighters were among the attackers, but did not give identity of their nationalities.

We are concerned about the foreign involvement in this attack and this is why we are working so hard with our international partners on security and intelligence sharing," said Mr Shirdon, while touring the court complex and the Madina Hospital where those wounded were being treated.

Some 58 people had been reportedinjured in the attack, with seven of them in serious conditions. The government has said it’s seeking urgent advanced medical assistance for them.

The al-Qaeda linked al-Shabab which is fighting for the establishment of an Islamic state of Somalia said on Monday the attacks was against the puppet government which it has vowed to fight.

"Yesterday's [Sunday's] blasts eliminated the dreams of the puppet government," al-Shabab military operations spokesman Abdiasis Abu Musab told Reuters news agency by telephone.

The AU and government forces have launched a major search for the militant fighters across the city, blocking off streets and going house to house to flush out suspected militants.

Somali police official Mohamed Hassan was quoted by the AFP news agency saying that more than 400 people had been detained in the operation aimed at tackling insecurity.

Driven out of strategic territories it controlled in Mogadishu, al-Shabab has resorted to guerrilla attacks in the city.

The 18000-strong AU forces have helped prop the Somali government plagued by the militia group.

The al-Shabab which still controls pockets of territories in central and southern Somalia has vowed to fight against the President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud government which they claim is imposed by the west and does not represent the will of Somalia.

Bamako, Mali

UN To Consider Peacekeeping Mission in Mali

The UN Security Council is seeking to approve a draft resolution for the creation of a UN peacekeeping mission in Mali by July 1, to suppress a rebellion by militant groups fighting in the north.

Experts from the 15 Security Council member states will meet on Tuesday to discuss the resolution drafted by France, which will authorise 12,600-strong UN troops, with those of the French to use “all necessary means” to restore stability in Mali.

The draft resolution will be reviewed in the next Security Council meeting by end of April. If the resolution will be adopted thereafter, the operation would be the fourth largest UN peacekeeping mission and would cost up to $800 million annually.

France launched a military campaign in northern Mali at request of the Malian government after Islamist rebels controlling the region threatened to overrun the capital Bamako, following an intensified invasion southwards.

So far the former colonial power has some 4,000 ground troops as well as warplanes and armoured vehicles deployed in Mali since the launch of its operation ‘Serval’ in January 11.  

France has started withdrawing its troops from Mali and says it plans to have just 1000 by the end of the year. Chad which also had deployed 2000 of its troops at the onset of the mission said on Sunday it would pull out after aiding the French in pushing the Islamists from northern towns they held before.

A senior Security Council diplomat told the Reuters news agency on condition of anonymity that France will only provide support to the peacekeeping mission upon need.

The draft resolution proposes that a UN mission in Mali under the acronym MINUSMA would take over authority on July 1 from the UN backed African forces in Mali deployed to take over from the French forces.

Officials from the UN, European Union, African Union, World Bank and other western nations met in Brussels earlier in February to discuss Mali’s future, holding talks on consideration of holding elections in July as well as international military and humanitarian assistance.

France has independently said it will help rebuild Mali once the military campaign in the country is over.