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Somalia: Death toll rises in deadly al-Shabaab attack on supreme court
Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon dismissed the attack as a “pointless and pathetic act” that he said would have no effect on the government’s commitment to progress.
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said Somalia is moving forward but the enemy of Somalia and “of all mankind” is trying to prevent the country from prospering. “I want the terrorists to know that our country, Somalia, is moving and will keep moving forward and will not be prevented to achieve the ultimate noble goal, a peaceful and stable Somalia, by a few desperate terrorists,” Mohamud said.
Ugandan troops stationed in Mogadishu as part of the African Union force arrived at the scene once the attack started and began taking up sniper positions on rooftops.
The Supreme Court was in session and it is speculated that the court’s chief justice may have been the target of the assault.
The court complex is a confusing maze of buildings and rooms, allowing for plenty of places to hide but also for many places for gunmen to take hostages. The armed men forced their way inside the complex and immediately set off an explosion.
Mogadishu’s main government center is heavily guarded with multiple security checks. However, the security at the court complex is not nearly as strong. The Ugandan troops who arrived on scene began pushing back on-lookers shortly after the attack began.
Militant attacks in Mogadishu are blamed on fighters from al-Shabaab, the al-Qaida-linked Islamic extremist group in Somalia. The al-Shabaab ruled Mogadishu from roughly 2006 until August 2011, when African Union and Somali forces pushed them out of the city. Since then the al-Shabaab extremists have launched suicide bombings on the capital city.
Despite those intermittent attacks, Mogadishu is generally considered more peaceful today than most of the previous seven years.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press
