From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Tue Sep 30 2008 - 14:19:14 EDT
Bomb kills 6 in Somali town housing parliament
Tue 30 Sep 2008, 7:54 GMT
By Mohamed Ahmed
BAIDOA, Somalia, Sept 30 (Reuters) - A bomb aimed at police exploded in the town housing Somalia's parliament on Tuesday, killing six civilians and injuring 13 people, witnesses said. Civilians have taken the brunt of Somalia's civil war, with nearly 10,000 killed since Islamist insurgents began attacking the government and its Ethiopian army allies in early 2007.
Resident Amina Mohamed said the remote-controlled bomb went off in a market for the mildly narcotic khat leaf in Baidoa, a provincial town in the south where the legislature meets.
"The bomb was targeted at a police car and other policemen who were walking in the khat market," she said.
"It killed four children and two women."
Police opened fire after the explosion, but most of the injuries came from the bomb, witnesses said.
Medics at Baidoa's overflowing hospital said they had received 13 injured people, including three policemen.
The attack had the hallmarks of Islamist insurgents or clan militia, although the rebels say the government sometimes stages explosions to discredit them.
Nobody immediately claimed responsibility.
After being routed from Mogadishu at the end of 2006, the Islamists have made a gradual comeback.
They now control large swathes of south Somalia and frequently carry out attacks in the coastal capital, Mogadishu.
In August, the Islamists took the southern port of Kismayu and have been consolidating their rule there since.
Some residents complained the Islamists were demolishing an old church to build a mosque. "The residents of Kismayu are very disappointed about this barbaric act but we dare not speak about this because they will cut our heads," one said.
"These are pseudo-Islamists because they bring more harm than good."
During their six-month rule of south Somalia in 2006, the Islamists won plaudits from the population for promoting trade and halting violence. But many Somalis complained about over-strict religious practices.
(Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)
© Reuters 2008. All Rights Reserved.
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