Claiming the promise of Paradise given by Allah to those who “kill and are killed” for Allah (Qur’an 9:111).
“Somalia: 16 killed in Islamic extremist assault on courthouse,” by Abdi Guled and Jason Straziuso for The Associated Press, April 14:
MOGADISHU, SOMALIA””Nine al-Shabab Islamic extremists, most wearing suicide vests, stormed Somalia’s main court complex on Sunday while the Supreme Court was in session, firing a barrage of bullets during a running gun battle with security forces that lasted two hours, officials said.
A preliminary death toll stood at 16, including all nine attackers.
The assault was the most serious in Mogadishu since al-Shabab militants were forced out of the capital in August 2011. Al-Shabab controls far less territory today than in years past, and its influence appears to be on the decline, but Sunday’s attack proved the extremists are still capable of pulling off well-planned and audacious assaults….
The militants took an unknown number of hostages during the siege. Many other government workers and civilians in the court complex “” a confusing labyrinth of buildings and rooms “” hid while fearing for their lives….
The complex and sustained nature of the assault on the court system suggested militants hoped to inflict severe casualties. Later, a suicide car bomber rammed a vehicle carrying Turkish citizens.
On a Twitter feed believed to belong to the militants, al-Shabab appeared to take credit for the attack. A posting said five militants from the “Martyrdom Brigade” took part in the “daring” attack….