Six Somali MPs killed in twin suicide bomb attack on hotel

Published on Tuesday 24 August 2010 15:13

Islamist insurgents allied to al-Qaeda killed 32 Somalis in a double suicide bombing yesterday, including six MPs from the country's western-funded parliament.

Carrying hidden pistols and strapped with suicide vests, two men disguised as government soldiers launched their attack on a hotel in the south of the capital, Mogadishu, close to the presidential palace.

Several MPs and government officials staying there were conducting a meeting close to the lobby when the raid started mid-morning.

"Two armed men have entered the hotel, one of them blew himself up and the other one started shooting people, including MPs," said Abdullahi Abdi, a Somali police official.

The second man detonated his suicide device as government soldiers fought back in what was described as a "half-hour gun-battle".

Witnesses who fled the scene reported seeing bodies lying in rubble in the hotel foyer.

"They rained gunfire on everybody. Nobody stood a chance," said hotel employee Adan Mohamed.

"I was lucky because they aimed at me, but I jumped out of the window and survived,"

An 11-year-old boy and a woman selling tea in front of the building were among the dead, said Barigye Bahoku, spokesman for the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia.

Somalia's al-Shabaab insurgents, linked to al-Qaeda, immediately claimed responsibility, praising the bombers as "mujahideen forces" and "martyrs".

Four ministers were killed in a similar suicide strike in December, and insurgent mortar barrages on the parliament and presidential palace in Mogadishu are now common.

But yesterday's attack was the deadliest on the country's weak administration, comprising the transitional government and more than 500 members of parliament. Al-Shabaab has intensified its offensive in the past 12 months and now controls almost all of southern Somalia.

The group aims to overthrow president Sheikh Sharif Ahmed's administration and introduce Islamic law to the whole country. Up to 200 foreign fighters blooded in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq are believed to be among its forces.

All that stands in their way are 6,300 African Union peacekeepers from Uganda and Burundi.

Al-Shabaab's spokesman, Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, warned on Monday of a new "massive war" against these "invaders".

Analysts pointed to the fact that the statement came within days of the arrival of hundreds of fresh soldiers to boost the AU mission.

These Ugandan reinforcements are likely to be the first of up to 4,000 new troops promised for the mission after the AU won pledges in July from Guinea, Djibouti and others to send extra soldiers.

"Before today's hotel bombing, you could easily say that al-Shabaab was just flexing its muscles as a warning to new troop-contributing nations not to get involved," said a European diplomat specialising on security developments in Somalia.

"But with the suicide bombing - which would have taken time to plan - we're not so sure. It could be that they really are ready to ramp this up."

Eleven fighters, mostly foreign from Afghanistan, Algeria, India and Pakistan, were found dead at the weekend after blowing themselves up while preparing home-made explosives in a house in southern Mogadishu.

On Monday, Kenyan newspapers reported that anti-terror police had arrested 12 men on Lamu island, close to the border with Somalia, who had bomb-making equipment and maps of Nairobi.

Suicide bombers linked to the group struck two restaurants in Uganda's capital, Kampala, as football fans watched the World Cup Final last month, killing more than 70 people.