Now Somalia, with its short-lived Islamic regime hiding in the hinterlands, is “occupied.” “Islamist militants claim suicide attack on Somali PM,” by y Guled Mohamed for Reuters, with thanks to all who sent this in:
MOGADISHU, June 4 (Reuters) – A militant Islamist group on Monday claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb that killed seven people at the home of Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi, vowing to continue attacks until “occupiers” left Somalia.
Gedi — who has now survived four attempts on his life in the last two years — blamed al Qaeda for the Sunday night blast at his compound in north Mogadishu.
“We can no longer cohabit with these terrorists. … We have to eliminate them,” he told local radio.
Five soldiers and two civilians died when the bomber detonated a vehicle rigged with explosives at the gates of his large compound in a heavily guarded northern neighbourhood. African Union peacekeepers raced in to whisk him to safety.
A group calling itself the Mujahideen Youth Movement said in a statement on the Internet that “a lion … our brave brother Abdul-Aziz Mohammad Semter … carried out a heroic martyrdom operation at the residence of the apostate prime minister.”
It added: “Your brethren at the Mujahideen Youth Movement are pressing on with their holy fight against all occupiers and apostates.” The statement could not be immediately verified but was on a site used by al Qaeda and other Islamist militants.