Somali militants threaten more attacks after killing 30

[Xaaji Xunjuf]

Somali militants threaten more attacks after killing 30

Reuters

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

 

Somali militants linked to al Qaeda warned on Monday of further attacks in the capital, a day after killing at least 30 people in a wave of coordinated bombings and shootings that exposed the fragility of security gains in Mogadishu.

 

African peacekeeping troops blocked streets and searched houses across the city at dawn to flush out suspected members of the Islamist militant group al Shabaab, which claimed responsibility for the strikes.

 

But the rebels warned of more attacks and taunted the Mogadishu government, which they consider a Western stooge, over its trouble securing the city as Somalia struggles to emerge from more than two decades of conflict and anarchy.

 

Although a military offensive under an African Union peacekeeping banner has pushed al Shabaab from urban strongholds in central and southern Somalia, the attacks reinforced concerns the militants remain a potent force.

 

"Yesterday's blasts eliminated the dreams of the puppet government. More lethal attacks are coming," Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab's spokesman for military operations, told Reuters by telephone.

 

At least one car bomb exploded and several suicide bombers blew themselves up at Mogadishu's law courts on Sunday. Gunmen also stormed the court compound, spraying it with bullets. Two hours later, a car bomb was detonated near the city's fortified airport.

 

The U.N. Security Council condemned the attacks and said it was willing to "take action against those whose behavior threatens the peace, stability, or security of Somalia."

 

Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon said the attack would not stop the government's efforts to restore peace and security.

 

He said there were several experienced foreign fighters among the attackers at the courts, showing that the fight against the militants was not just a Somali affair.

 

"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," he said in a statement.

 

Al Shabaab said six of its fighters were killed in the attack, but the government has not said how many militants died.

 

The law courts were a symbolic target. Somalia's new government has made reforming the judiciary a priority in its campaign to shake off the country's "failed state" tag.

 

The scale of Sunday's attacks suggest the Islamist militants remain well organized, enabling them to infiltrate the city from which they were driven out two years ago and target important installations with apparent ease.

 

Western and Somali officials are concerned the militants were seeking to rebuild their strength in the capital.

 

"It will be almost impossible to eliminate al Shabaab," member of parliament Mohamed Farah Jimale told Reuters. "They will regroup and continue bombing."

 

Britain, which has a large Somali population and has warned of threats to its own security from Somalia-trained militants, had warned this month of an imminent attack in Mogadishu, highlighting the international networks involved.

 

Somalia's finance minister said the attack reinforced the government's call for more aid to pay and train its security personnel as it seeks to rebuild the nation of 10 million people.

 

"It proves that we need the support of friendly countries to help us in improving the security forces' capability in Mogadishu and other areas," Mohamud Hassan Suleiman told Reuters.

 

A more stable Somalia could help curb piracy, which has flourished in the absence of an effective central government, and would soothe worries that Somali Islamists could expand territory they control which could be used as a training ground for militants who could strike elsewhere.

 

(Additional reporting by Edmund Blair and Michelle Nichols at the United Nations; Writing by Richard Lough; Editing by Jon Hemming and Bill Trott)

[Xaaji Xunjuf]

We know alshabaab is defeated in much of southern Somalia and are losing territory every single day but Alshabaab has changed its strategy to strike with homicide attacks. And create insecurity obviously they cannot combat 5 African union countries and are under-equipped and out numbered. But their attacks are deadly and well organized and carried out in perfectness. What is the security plan of the government how is the intelligence of the government how competent is the interior minister. Is there a chance to reconcile the government with alshabaab?

[Daqane]

The shabaab had a long time ago described what they considered as the next phase of their "war" as being the classic al-qaeda tactics of bombings and mass civilian casualties, it will be and is futile for any Somali government to claim that they will stop the next attack, it will take time, and the involvement of all levels of the society, in the end the vision of a just corruption free Somalia is the only antidote to the actions of this group, they know that this sort of bombings will not change the status quo neither will it do anything to further their goal of an Islamic emirate from Somalia to alaska, but this vision anyway was never their intention and this attack just high lights them getting bedded down to the type of violence they will be affecting on Somalia and Somalis for the foreseeable future.

 

The security plan of the government is clearly stated in the NSSP [National security & Stabilization programme] and this is a long term timeline for the next 4 years, but unfortunately this attack caught the government flat footed on a technical level for two reasons :

 

1. The 1,000 man Banadiir police regiment made up of non-khat users and experienced personnel that had just finished its three months training in Jazeera camp in Mogadishu specifically created to augment the strategic security of the cities main road arteries, government institutions and improving the efficacy of the search & cordon sweep of neighborhoods, had not yet been deployed and was to be deployed next week, unfortunately the main overall reason that these shabaabists managed to get into the compound had every thing to do with the lax security screening at the jiidgooys leading to the court complex.

 

2. The National Intelligence and Security Agency [N.I.S.A] with the building of the headquarters, its equipping with new ultra-modern electronic surveillance equipment, and creation of a new charter as well as change in mode of operations has had a qualitative leap, but because of removal of several agents either former shabaab [double agents] or agents accused of using their positions for personal gain through blackmail e.t.c as well as the replacement of the Ahmed Faqi as the Director General [an effective head of the organisation] meant that according to them apart from general warnings this attack specifics slipped through the radar.

 

As these tactical issues are solved perhaps there shall be a reduction in the number of the successful attacks, but hamar as the largest city with an un-registered population, huge I.D.P numbers and myriad ingress and exit points will always be vulnerable.

 

P.S Alpha group responded quickly, professionally and ended it much quicker than the shabaab wanted, they wanted a full siege to develop like the taliban attacks in kabul to occur with international relay of the shabaab hostage taking of the court complex and the chief justice, that did not happen.