Sunday, June 03, 2007
It is at least the third attempt on Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi's life since he returned to Somalia in May 2005.
"It was a suicide attack. They are terrorists linked to al-Qaeda. They planned to kill the prime minister. He escaped their assassination attempt. He is alive. And now he is in a safe place," Deputy Defense Minister Salad Ali Jelle told The Associated Press.
Paddy Ankunda, spokesman of the African Union peacekeeping force in Mogadishu, said that a number of people were killed and others wounded. African Union troops are busy evacuating the wounded, Ankunda said.
An Associated Press reporter saw five bodies lying on the street outside the prime minister's house.
"I can confirm that the prime minister is safe and unharmed and our troops evacuated him from the explosion site to a safe location," Ankunda told The Associated Press.
Qasaye Mohamed Ali, who lives in the neighborhood, said he was standing near the prime minister's house when he saw the car force its way through a roadblock. Guards outside the premier's house opened fire and then the car rammed into a wall and exploded, he said.
Ali was waiting for a friend who was inside the premier's house when the explosion happened. He said he hid behind a wall to protect himself.
The last attempt on Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi's life was on May 17, when a bomb exploded as Gedi's convoy was on its way to the capital's airport. No one was injured and no vehicles were damaged in that attempt.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Sunday's attack undermines the government assertion that it has defeated Islamic insurgents who have vowed to launch an Iraq-style guerrilla war unless Somalia becomes an Islamic state.
When Gedi declared victory in April, the death toll was at least 1,670 people killed since March 12. About 400,000 people have fled the capital's violence since February.
The battles pitted the government and Ethiopian troops propping it up, against clan rivals and Islamic insurgents.
Source: AP, June 03, 2007