A suicide car bomber exploded at the gate to Aden Adde International Airport in Mogadishu on Thursday, and suicide bombers in a second vehicle rushed toward the terminal before exploding themselves short of their goal, officials said. Up to 14 people were killed, including five attackers.
The coordinated assault by al-Shabab fighters was the latest in a surge of attacks by Islamist insurgents, who last month declared a new, stepped-up effort to oust the country’s weak government. The barrage took place about 40 minutes after Somali President Sharif Ahmed flew out of the country.
The Somali government and the 7,000-man African Union force that protects Somalia’s weak government gave slightly differing accounts of the attack, though they agreed on the broad outlines.
After the suicide car bomber exploded at the front gate, 500m from the terminal, between two and four suicide bombers exited a second vehicle and battled security forces.
At least two of the suicide bombers — who were wearing Somali military uniforms — forced their way into the airport grounds and ran toward the terminal.
“Both were brought to a halt within 200m of the terminal building where they exploded their IED [improvised explosive device] vests,” the African Union said in a statement.
Somali officials condemned the attack on the eve of the Muslim religious festival of Eid, but said they had anticipated a high-profile assault around this time. Eid marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
Sheik Ali Mohamud Rage, a spokesman for al-Shabab, claimed responsibility for the attack and said it was aimed at a high-level meeting of UN, African Union and Somali officials taking place at the airport.
Two soldiers with the African Union force and four Somali police officers were killed, spokesman for the AU force Major Barigye Bahoku said. The Somali government statement said three civilians also were killed. Officials indicated that up to five attackers took part in the assault, and that all five died.
A female beggar, Dahira Kheyrow, said two of her fellow beggars were among those killed. She said she fell to the ground after the car bomb went off.
Al-Shabab is Somalia’s most dangerous militant group. Late last month al-Shabab militants stormed a Mogadishu hotel favored by lawmakers and killed 32 people, including four parliamentarians. In July, al-Shabab masterminded twin bombings in Uganda’s capital during the soccer World Cup final, attacks that killed 76 people.
Al-Shabab recently declared a new, stepped-up campaign to overthrow Somalia’s government and install the harsh, ultraconservative form of Shariah law that it practices across Somalia. Militant veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts help train al-Shabab fighters, one of the reasons the sophistication of its attacks has risen in recent months.
Former British prime minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday urged so-called middle powers to become a “poisonous shrimp” to carve out strategic economic leverage in a more turbulent global environment. Sunak drew from a metaphor by former Singaporean prime minister Lee Kuan Yew (李光耀): A big fish will eat a smaller fish, and the smaller fish will eat the shrimp. Lee made the point a year after the Asian nation’s independence in 1966 that the city-state needed to build up its defense mechanisms — like a shrimp that stings — so it would be left alone by predators. “He was thinking about what Singapore’s
POLL POSITION: Democrats criticized the timing of the raid, saying that the US justice department historically avoids public investigations within 60 days of an election Federal agents on Monday searched the home of Democratic US Representative Ilhan Omar, a startling escalation in a criminal investigation that brings renewed focus to the frequent target of White House derision in the final weeks of her re-election bid. The search of the Minnesota congresswoman’s home so close to next month’s midterm contests that would determine control of the US House and the Senate was swiftly condemned by top Democrats in Congress, who raised questions about the timing given longstanding US Department of Justice (DOJ) protocol to avoid overt investigative steps involving political candidates in the direct run-up to an
A Rhode Island pumpkin grower appears to have broken the world record for the heaviest pumpkin, with his giant squash topping the record by nearly 136kg. Ron Wallace of Greene, Rhode Island, weighed his pumpkin on Saturday at a contest in New England and is waiting for the Guinness World Records to confirm he smashed the record, set about a week earlier by a grower in England. Wallace said he has been in contact with Guinness officials who say his record is on track to be verified. “It’s truly massive, it was a pleasure to grow,” Wallace said on Monday. Guinness World Records lists
A 16-year-old on Thursday shot his way through locked doors to get into an elementary school in Bend, Oregon, killing three children and a teacher. He was then shot by a person at the scene who followed him inside, authorities said. The suspect was found dead inside the school minutes after the shooting was first reported, Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz said. The three children killed were aged 5, 8 and 11. Another child, 7, and a teacher, 54, were injured and taken to the hospital in critical condition, he said. The first 911 call came just before 1pm from a person in
RSS