Somalia's al Shabaab say attack meant to get president "dead or alive"Source:
Reuters - Sat, 22 Feb 2014 02:26 PM
Author: Reuters
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Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud sits in his presidential office at
Villa Somalia, the complex which houses the Somali government in the
country's capital Mogadishu April 19, 2013, in this picture provided by the
African Union-United Nations Information Support Team (AU-UN IST).
REUTERS/Stuart Price/AU-UN IST Photo/Handout
* 11 killed in Friday attack on president's compound
* Militants still pose a risk to fragile government
* African Union force planning offensive against Shabaab (Adds Somali
government comment)
By Feisal Omar
MOGADISHU, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Islamist militants said on Saturday their
attack on the Somali president's compound, in which at least 11 people
died, was an attempt to kill or abduct him.
Al Shabaab fighters blasted through a gate with a car bomb on Friday and
fought a gunbattle with guards at the heavily-fortified compound known as
Villa Somalia. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was unharmed in the assault.
"The main objective of attacking the palace on Friday was to assassinate
the so-called Somali president or kidnap him," al Shabaab spokesman Sheikh
Ali Mohamud Rage told Reuters on Saturday.
"We sent well-trained mujahideen from our special forces to bring us the
president dead or alive."
In the past few weeks, the capital Mogadishu has been hit by a series of
suicide bomb attacks claimed by al Shabaab, who were pushed out of the city
in mid-2011 but have continued to wage a guerrilla campaign.
The strike was another reminder of the threat still posed by the rebels and
how Somalia's fragile government is struggling to impose order more than
two decades after the fall of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre tipped the
country into chaos.
Police said the attackers wore uniforms similar to those of the
presidential guards, and some wore suicide vests during the
well-coordinated attack.
The chief of staff of the office of the prime minister and a former chief
of intelligence were killed, along with all nine militants who staged the
attack, the government said.
"In 2006, Ethiopian troops came but we chased them and by then we were
weak," said Rage. "But now we are strong and determined to fight back and
eliminate the Ethiopian troops."
"DEATH THROES"
President Mohamud said on Friday the attack would not stop his government's
work to rebuild Somalia and called al Shabaab a "marginal group on the
brink of extinction".
The president's spokesman said the rebels would be defeated.
"These are the death throes of a dying animal. Al Shabaab has been driven
out of Mogadishu, Kismayo and many other areas. Our military campaign
against them is going to remove them entirely," Abdirahman Yarisow told
Reuters.
Somalia is preparing for a planned military offensive led by an expanded
African Union peacekeeping force to drive the rebels - who want to impose a
strict version of Islamic sharia law on the Horn of Africa country - out of
their remaining strongholds by the end of 2014.
The offensive could push al Shabaab into the dense bush of the Lower
Shabelle, a region that includes Barawe and lies between Mogadishu and the
port of Kismayu to the south.
New joining the peace force from Ethiopia are expected to spearhead the
offensive. Ethiopian troops have in the past been involved in similar
drives against the rebels. (Additional reporting and writing by James
Macharia; editing by Andrew Roche)
Received on Sat Feb 22 2014 - 11:35:38 EST