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Newly elected Somalia President Mohamud unharmed in apparent assassination attempt
“We are responsible for the attack against the so-called president and the delegation,” Al-Shabaab spokesman Ali Mohamud Rage told AFP.
Al-Shabaab spokesman had warned on Tuesday that his group considered as illegtimate the UN-backed process which saw newly-designated lawmakers elect Mohamud.
“Nothing personal, but the whole process is like an enemy project,” Al-Shabaab spokesman had said.
The newly-elected 56-year-old academic’s predecessors have all survived numerous assassination attempts.
African Union troops have wrested control of most of Somalia back from the Al-Shabaab in recent months but the insurgent group has continued to attack foreign and government targets, mostly with suicide bombers.
Rage vowed that such attacks would continue “until the liberation of Somalia”, where Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Burundi and Djibouti have sent troops to support the government and battle the Islamist insurgency.
Mohamud unexpectedly defeated incumbent president Sharif Sheikh Ahmed in Monday’s vote in what was interpreted as a sign that Somali leaders wanted to break with the corruption-tainted outgoing administration.
