From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Wed Aug 12 2009 - 17:40:46 EDT
Pakistani preachers shot dead in Somalia's Puntland
Wed Aug 12, 2009 3:11pm GMT
* Masked men open fire in mosque after prayers
* Official says victims were sheikhs from Karachi
* Al Shabaab militants vow revenge
* Mogadishu clashes kill at least six
(Updates with Mogadishu fighting, paragraphs 8-9)
By Abdi Guled
MOGADISHU, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Masked gunmen killed seven Pakistani preachers
at a mosque in Somalia's Puntland region on Wednesday, residents and local
officials said.
Puntland is a base for pirates targeting the Gulf of Aden, but has been more
peaceful than the rest of the failed Horn of Africa state, which Western
security agencies say is a haven for militants plotting attacks in the
region and beyond.
Residents said the shooting took place after early morning prayers at the
mosque in Galkayo town and targeted a group of 25 mostly Pakistani sheikhs
who had arrived in the semi-autonomous northern region on Tuesday.
"Six Pakistanis died on the spot while another Pakistani died from his
injuries in hospital. These men are Islamist preachers from Karachi,
Pakistan," Galkayo chairman Hussein Abdullahi told Reuters by telephone.
"Puntland forces have now surrounded the area around the mosque to protect
the other sheikhs."
Somalia has been torn by civil war since 1991, and the government of
President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed controls only small pockets of the
rubble-strewn capital Mogadishu.
It is battling hardline Islamist rebels in southern and central regions,
including the al Shabaab group, which the United States accuses of being al
Qaeda's proxy in Somalia.
In the latest clashes in Mogadishu, at least six people were killed as
gunmen from two pro-government factions exchanged heavy weapons fire around
the city's strategic K4 junction.
"We cannot leave our homes. There are gunmen fighting at every corner,"
local woman Halima Osman told Reuters.
AL SHABAAB ANGRY AT KILLING
A Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman said his government had seen the
reports from Galkayo, but could not comment until it had more details from
its diplomats in east Africa.
Puntland's information minister was killed in the same area last week, and
residents said Wednesday's attack may have been driven by suspicion that the
sheikhs were linked to al Qaeda.
Local Shabelle Media, however, said the mosque where they were staying often
hosted members of the Tablighi Jamaat, a religious movement founded in India
in 1926 that keeps a low public profile and says it does not get involved in
politics.
A spokesman for al Shabaab told reporters in Mogadishu that the group was
saddened by the killing of the religious scholars.
"They were preachers who spread Islam," said Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage. "We
shall get our revenge and get our hands on those who killed them. Let the
Tablighi (preachers) also take up guns and fight the enemies."
Violence in Somalia has killed more than 18,000 people since the start of
2007 and driven another 1 million from their homes.
In a sign of international support for the Somali government, U.S. Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton held talks with Ahmed in neighbouring Kenya last
week and pledged more aid for his fragile administration.
C Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
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