shabaab kills Maj. Gen. Juvenile Niyoyunguriza, injures commander

[xiinfaniin]

AMISOM commander injured deputy killed in Mogadishu attack

 

 

Risdel Kasasira

Thursday, September 17, 2009

 

Kamapla, Uganda (Daily Monitor) - Somali insurgents detonated two suicide car bombs, Thursday morning, at African Union (AU) peacekeeping headquarter in Mogadishu, killing nine soldiers including the deputy force Commander, Maj. Gen. Juvenile Niyoyunguriza.

 

The army spokesperson, Lt. Col Kulayigye said the Force Commander, Maj. Gen. Nathan Mugisha is among the ten who were injured in the deadliest attack.

 

This is the worst attack on the peacekeepers ever since they deployed in Somalia in 2007 to support the transitional government of President Ahmed Sharif Ahmed.

 

Col. Kulayigye said Gen. Mugisha sustained minor injuries and was receiving treatment at the AU medical unit in Mogadishu. Those who received serious injuries were yesterday afternoon evacuated to Nairobi for treatment.

 

The suicide bombers, disguisedly drove in UN marked vehicles to the AU force headquarter before blowing up the peacekeepers’ head office, Col. Kulayigye said.

 

“They came in Burundian convoy, driving two UN vehicles which were stolen early this year and attacked headquarter. We have lost nine and ten were injured,”

 

Col. Kulayigye said they were still verifying to find out the number of the dead and injured Ugandans. “We are still finding out. These are preliminary findings. But the situation is bad,” he said.

 

Source: Daily Monitor, Sept 17, 2009

[xiinfaniin]

This by far is the most successful alshabaab mission to date

[Juje]

It is surprising how three check-points of AMISOM troops could not recognize two cars previously stolen from them.

[xiinfaniin]

^these are African troops stationed in makeshift army base with no intelligence sophistication.

[Che -Guevara]

An eye for eye!

[unknown01]

^and tooth for tooth!

Allahu Akbar

[xiinfaniin]

September 18, 2009

African Union Base in Somalia Is Hit

 

 

By MOHAMED IBRAHIM and JEFFREY GETTLEMAN

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Islamist insurgents driving stolen United Nations trucks bombed an African Union base in Mogadishu on Thursday, killing several people and igniting yet another vicious gun battle in Somalia’s capital.

 

Witnesses said fighters from the Shabab, an Islamist extremist group with growing ties to Al Qaeda, were allowed inside the base because they were driving two white trucks with “U.N.” painted on the doors. The trucks were packed with explosives, and the drivers detonated them around 11:30 a.m., witnesses said. Local radio stations also reported that the Shabab had claimed responsibility for the attack.

 

Heavy machine-gun fire rattled for hours afterward, and it was difficult to gain clear information about casualties on Thursday afternoon because the fighting was still going on, though some witnesses said around 15 people were killed. Several Somalis said the United Nations trucks had been stolen in Baidoa, a central Somalia town that used to have a large United Nations staff and is now firmly under Shabab control.

 

A spokesman for the Shabab, Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, told Reuters that the attacks were to avenge a leading militant recruiter who was killed in southern Somalia on Monday.

 

There are around 5,000 African Union troops in Somalia protecting the weak but internationally recognized transitional government, which faces intense resistance from extremist groups working with Al Qaeda. Insurgents have attacking the peacekeepers relentlessly, often with suicide bombs. Somalia has not had effective central government since 1991, when the former government was toppled by clan militias that later turned on each other.

 

Earlier on Thursday, the Shabab distributed a statement to journalists setting conditions on the release of a French security adviser who was kidnapped in July. The group demanded that the French government stop supporting the transitional federal government, and it sought the withdrawal of African Union peacekeepers, especially the Burundians; the French antipiracy warships patrolling Somalia’s waters; and the French security companies operating in Somalia. The statement also called for the release of Shabab prisoners held in various prisons.

 

A spokesman for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bernard Valéro, questioned the authenticity of the statement and said France stood behind current peacekeeping operations.

 

The French captive is one two security advisers were kidnapped at a hotel in Mogadishu in July. The other captive, Marc Aubrière, held by the militia Hizb-ul-Islam, managed to escape, according to Somali officials.

 

Mohamed Ibrahim reported from Mogadishu, and Jeffrey Gettleman from Lamu, Kenya.

[Juje]

Originally posted by Che -Guevara:

An eye for eye!

Which eye for which eye?

Xiin manning a check-point does not require that much intelligence. Stopping a hostile vehicle is not hard, and identifying a vehicle stolen from you, not one but two, is not difficult. And it is three check-points before he gets to target of this morning.

They cocked this up big time.

[xiinfaniin]

By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN

Thursday, September 17, 2009

 

 

 

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - Suicide bombers in two explosives-laden cars with U.N. logos drove onto the main base of African Union peacekeepers Thursday and triggered massive blasts that a witness said killed at least 11 people. Islamist insurgents said the attack was in revenge for a U.S. commando raid that killed an al-Qaida operative.

 

An hour later, an Associated Press reporter saw missiles fired from the AU base strike rebel-controlled areas of the capital, hitting several civilians. A young woman and a girl lay dead on the street, blood streaming from their wounds. Ali Muse of the Mogadishu ambulance service said the missiles killed seven people and wounded 16.

 

The bloodshed underscores the level of lawlessness and violence to which Somalia has fallen. After two decades of chaos, many fear this impoverished African nation is becoming a haven for al-Qaida, offering a place for terrorists to train and gather strength much like Afghanistan in the 1990s.

 

Al-Shabab, a powerful local Islamist insurgent group, claimed responsibility for the car bombings. Al-Shabab had vowed to attack Western interests after a raid Monday by helicopter-borne U.S. special forces that killed Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, an al-Qaida operative, in southern Somalia.

 

The U.S. and the U.N. both support Somalia's government and the African peacekeeping force. Al-Qaida and al-Shabab allegedly have links, though the local group denies this.

 

"I have counted the bodies of 11 people," one witness said after the car bombings, requesting anonymity for fear of reprisal. The AU, however, said nine people were killed: four suicide bombers and five officials from the government and AMISOM, the AU peacekeeping force, including the Burundian deputy commander of the force.

 

The African Medical and Research Foundation, which operates a flying doctors service, said the U.N. asked for help evacuating 15 critically injured people from the attacked base. Bob Kioko, a foundation spokesman, said it was sending four planes.

 

An airport security officer said the explosions were caused by two white Land Cruisers with United Nations logos.

 

"The soldiers at the gate assumed they were U.N. cars and opened the gate for them," the security official said, asking that his name not be used because he is not authorized to speak to the media. "When the cars entered one of them sped toward a petrol depot and exploded. The other one exploded in a nearby area."

 

U.N. spokeswoman Benedicte Walter says the organization has not confirmed the vehicles used were U.N. cars.

 

France condemned the attack on the AU base and said it is considering using military means to reach and help the wounded, according to a statement from the French Foreign Ministry. Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero would not elaborate.

 

Suicide attacks — virtually unheard of in Somalia before 2007 — have increased in Somalia in recent years. Still, far more casualties are caused from gunbattles and mortar fire. There have been about a dozen suicide attacks since Islamic insurgents stepped up their attacks against the Western-backed backed government in 2007.

 

In a statement, the AU said it would remain "resolute in its commitment to support the Somali people." The peacekeeping force has long lamented that it is undermanned. Out of a planned 8,000 troops, there are about 5,000 troops from Uganda and Burundi.

 

Earlier Thursday, al-Shabab issued conditions for the release of a French security agent being held hostage, demanding that France stop supporting Somalia's government and withdraw its warships from anti-piracy patrols.

 

The French government immediately rejected the conditions.

 

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told France-Info radio that Paris' support for the embattled Somali government remains firm, noting he has twice met with Somali President Sheik Sharif and his ministers, who "represent Somalia."

 

Al-Shabab also demanded that France exert pressure to force African Union peacekeepers out of the country and "release all the prisoners of the holy warriors held in many areas, which we will reveal later."

 

The Frenchman, whose identity has not been released, was seized along with another agent July 14 in the capital, Mogadishu. The pair were in the country to train Somali government forces, which are fighting Islamist militiamen.

 

The kidnappers separated the two men. The other agent escaped in August while his captors slept.

 

Al-Shabab vowed on Tuesday to retaliate against Western interests for Monday's U.S.-led commando raid in rural southern Somalia that left six dead, including Nabhan, one of the most-wanted al-Qaida operatives in the region.

 

Associated Press writers Salad Duhul in Mogadishu and Malkhadir M. Muhumed in Nairobi, Kenya contributed to this report.

[Geel_jire]

Rag rag dhalay iga dheh Mashalaah this is great news .... 10 baa bakhtiday dheh inshalaah more will follow soon.

[Che -Guevara]

Juje-That's what you get for killing a Somali camel, more importantly using Somalis as target practice.

[NGONGE]

^^ Did you read the bit about how they retaliated?

[unknown01]

You accuse Al Shabaab of not being nationalists but supporting AMISOM makes you a nationalist.

[Che -Guevara]

NGONE-Gets to show these men are not here to "keep" peace and have complete disregard for Somali lives, and from what I understand the AU has changed their mandate and authorized them to fight along side government forces hence turning them into occupation force.

[xiinfaniin]

Dad badan oo rayid ah oo ku hoobtay duqeyn ay ciidanka AMISON ka wadaan Muqdisho

Posted to the Web Sep 17, 16:53

 

 

Muqdisho:-Ciidanka AMISON ayaa waxaa ay duqayn ay ku wadaan magaalada Muqdisho ku dileen 7 qof waxaan ay dhaawacmay ilaa 26 qof,duqaynta oo ay weli wadaan ciidanka AMISON ayaa laga yaabaa in dhimashada iyo dhaawaca dadka rayidka ah ay sii badto.

 

Dadka rayidka ah ayaa xaafadaha hadba dhinac u yaacaya iyagoo raadsanaya Saraha shubta ah si ay uga gabadaan duqeynta ciidanka AMSION oo si arxan daro ah ugu socota magaalada Muqdisho.

 

Wixii faahfaahin ah dib ayaan idin kala socodsiin doonaa Insha Allaah.