Author Topic: Al-Shabaab Bombs UN Van in Somalia, 4 UNICEF Workers Killed  (Read 496 times)

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rangerrebew

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Al-Shabaab Bombs UN Van in Somalia, 4 UNICEF Workers Killed


Monday, April 20, 2015 12:11 PM




By: By ABDI GULED



Islamic extremists set off a bomb in a U.N. van in normally tranquil northern Somalia on Monday, killing at least seven people, including four employees of the U.N. children's agency in an attack that was widely denounced.

Two Kenyans, one Ugandan, one Afghan and three Somalis died in the explosion in Garowe town and one American, one Sierra Leonean, one Ugandan, one Kenyan and four Somalis were wounded, police Col. Ali Salad told The Associated Press.

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud called it a direct attack on the future of the country.

"This attack is not just targeted at the United Nations, but in attacking UNICEF, al-Shabaab has also attacked Somali children. It is an attack against the future of our country and I condemn it in the strongest possible terms," Mohamud said in a statement.

Al-Shabaab, which is battling to convert Somalia into a hard-line Islamic state, claimed responsibility through its radio station for the attack in Garowe, capital of Puntland state.

UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake said: "Our colleagues dedicated their lives to working for the children of Somalia. They are not victims. They and those who were wounded are heroes. We mourn their loss and hope for the full recovery of the injured."

The bomb was apparently planted under a seat and was detonated by remote control, said police official Yusuf Ali.

Garowe resident Jama Hashi said he heard a thunderous blast inside the van, which he said was passing near the offices of the U.N.'s food agency when the bomb went off. Human limbs were scattered around the scene, he said. Security forces sealed off the area as ambulances carried the wounded away. Photos showed the roof had apparently been blown off. A corpse leaned out of a window whose glass had been blown away, dripping blood onto the side of the van.

"It's a dark day, but terrorists must know that the blood they shed will not go in vain. We shall deal with them with an iron hand," said Salad, the police commander in the semi-autonomous Puntland state.

Bombings are rare in northern Somalia, unlike in the south where al-Shabaab is battling the Somali government and the African Union forces bolstering it.

Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for an attack earlier this month at a college in northeastern Kenya in which at least 148 people, most of them students, were killed. Kenya has sent troops into Somalia as part of the AU force to stabilize the government and attack al-Shabaab, which is allied with al-Qaida.

http://www.newsmax.com/World/Africa/AF-Somalia-Violence/2015/04/20/id/639548/

« Last Edit: April 22, 2015, 09:54:00 am by rangerrebew »