SALON

Wednesday, Sep 12, 2012 3:00 PM UTC

Police: Blasts at home of Somalia’s new president

By

Topics: From the Wires,

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — A day after the election of Somalia’s new president, two explosions at the gate of his temporary residence killed at least five people and wounded three others Wednesday, witnesses and officials said.

The blasts took place as Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was holding a press conference in the building, the Jazeera Hotel, with visiting Kenyan Foreign Minister Sam Ongeri.

Al-Shabab, a radical Islamist militia that is affiliated with al-Qaida and which is waging an insurgency against the Somali government, quickly claimed responsibility for the attack. Al-Shabab had opposed Mohamud’s election, saying it had been manipulated by western powers.

At least five people were killed in the blast, according to witness Mohammed Nuradin. An African Union soldier was among those killed in the blast and 3 others were wounded in the incident, said African Union force spokesman Col. Ali Aden.

African Union forces are helping the Somalia government fight al-Shabab, which the U.S. has designated as terrorist group, and which neighboring African countries consider a threat.

Police corporal Yusuf Ali said that he was guarding the Somalia immigration department near the Jazeera hotel when two blasts occurred.

An Associated Press photographer inside Jazeera Hotel for the president’s press conference with the Kenyan minister said the two were safe. He said he saw at least five bodies near the gate of the hotel.

Mohamud was elected Monday, beating Sheik Shariff Sheikh Ahmed who was seeking re-election after leading a transitional government for three years. Mohamud is expected to form a fully functioning government for Somalia which has not had one since 1991 when a longtime dictator was overthrown.

Mohamud has taken up temporary residence at Jazeera Hotel in a highly protected zone near the airport before moving in to the presidential palace.

Al-Shabab militants, though evicted from Mogadishu, still penetrate the seaside capital to carry out suicide attacks. One such attack took place last month as Somali elders voted in a new internationally backed constitution that guarantees more rights for women and children. The bombers were stopped at the gates and no one except the two attackers was killed.

More Abdi Guled.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations