Arab League condemns Mogadishu blast

Turkey sends medical team to Somalia

CAIRO, Dec 29, (Agencies): The Arab League Saturday vehemently condemned a vehicle blast in Mogadishu, which left at least 80 people dead and 70 others wounded, billing it as an “insidious terrorist act”.

Secretary-General of the Arab League Ahmad Abul-Gheit said in a press statement that the bloc stands by the Somali government in its fight against terrorism.

He stressed that such “villainous acts” would not prevent Somalia from pursuing its fervent efforts to build the State’s institutions and uphold security and stability nationwide.

The Arab League’s chief offered sincere condolences to the Somali government and the families of the victims, and wished a speedy recovery for the wounded.

At least 80 people were killed and 125 others injured in a vehicle explosion in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, early Saturday, according to Somali authorities.

Most of those killed were reportedly university and other students returning to class.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry confirmed the death of two of its nationals.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the bomb but Al-Shabab militants have often carried out attacks there.

Ankara sent a medical team to Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, to treat those injured by the recent terrorist bombing, Turkish Anadolu Agency (AA) reported on Sunday.

The plane took off yesterday evening from Ankara to Mogadishu to aid those affected by the blast that killed 80 people and wounded 125 others, revealed a statement by the Health Ministry.

The medical team consisted of 20 personnel, indicated the ministry, adding that some of the seriously injured will be transported to Turkey

Parsees from Muslim-majority Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, but not Muslims.

Critics say it violates India’s secular constitution, and have filed challenges with the Supreme Court. Tens of thousands of protesters have taken to India’s streets to call for its revocation.

Twenty-three people have been killed nationwide in the protests, the first major roadblock for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist agenda since his for treatment.

The explosion ripped through rush hour as Somalia returned to work after its weekend.

President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed condemned the attack as a “heinous act of terror” and blamed the local al-Shabab extremist group, which is linked to al-Qaeda and whose reach has extended to deadly attacks on luxury malls and schools in neighboring Kenya.

Bodies lay on the ground amid the blackened skeletons of vehicles. At a hospital, families and friends picked through dozens of the dead, gingerly lifting sheets to peer at faces.

Killed

Most of those killed were university students returning to class and police officers, said Somalia’s police chief Gen Abdi Hassan Hijar. He said the vehicle detonated after police at the checkpoint blocked it from proceeding into the city.

Somalis mourned the deaths of so many young people in a country trying to rebuild itself after decades of conflict. Two Turkish brothers were among the dead, Somalia’s foreign minister said, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the attack.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but al-Shabab often carries out such attacks. The extremist group was pushed out of Mogadishu several years ago but continues to target high-profile areas such as checkpoints and hotels in the seaside city.

Al-Shabab is now able to make its own explosives, its “weapon of choice,” United Nations experts monitoring sanctions on Somalia said earlier this year. The group had previously relied on military-grade explosives captured during assaults on an African Union peacekeeping force.

Despite that advance in bombmaking,

party’s landslide reelection earlier this year.

Modi has defended the citizenship law and accused the opposition of pushing the country into a “fear psychosis.”

Sixteen of the deaths occurred in Uttar Pradesh, according to state government spokesman Awanish Awasthi. Muslims account for 20% of the state’s 200 million people. The state government is controlled by Modi’s governing party. Government officials have repeatedly said security one security expert said the unlikely choice of target Saturday — a checkpoint at the western entrance to the capital — reflected al-Shabab’s weakening capability to plan and execute attacks at will. Mogadishu recently introduced tougher security measures that Somali officials said make it more difficult to smuggle in explosives.

“It feels like they literally knew that their (car bomb) may not proceed through the checkpoint into the city undetected, considering the additional obstacles ahead, so bombing the busy checkpoint in a show of strength appeared to be an ideal decision,” the Mogadishu-based Ahmed Barre told The Associated Press.

Al-Shabab was blamed for the truck bombing in Mogadishu in October 2017 that killed more than 500 people, but the group never claimed responsibility for the blast that led to widespread public outrage. Some analysts said al-Shabab didn’t dare claim credit as its strategy of trying to sway public opinion by exposing government weakness had badly backfired.

“This explosion is similar like the one ... in 2017. This one occurred just a few steps away from where I am and it knocked me on the ground from its force. I have never seen such a explosion in my entire life,” witness Abdurrahman Yusuf said.

The attack again raises concern about the readiness of Somali forces to take over responsibility for the Horn of Africa country’s security in the coming months from the AU force.

Al-Shabab, the target of a growing number of US airstrikes since President Donald Trump took office, controls parts of Somalia’s southern and central regions. It funds itself with a “taxation” system that experts describe as extortion of businesses and travelers that brings in millions of dollars a year.

forces haven’t killed anyone. (AP)

Taleban attack kills 17 militia:

A Taleban attack in northern Afghanistan killed at least 17 local militiamen, an Afghan official said Sunday.

The attack apparently targeted a local militia commander who escaped unharmed, said Jawad Hajri, a spokesman for the governor of Takhar province, where the attack took place late Saturday.

Local Afghan militias commonly operate in remote areas, and are under the command of either the defense or interior ministries.

Taleban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack.

The attack came even as Taleban officials have told The Associated Press that a temporary nationwide cease-fire may be in the works.

The Taleban have previously refused all offers of a ceasefire by the Afghan government, except for a three-day truce in June 2018 over the Eid al-Fitr holiday.

The current cease-fire proposal would last a week to 10 days. During that time, a peace deal with the United States would then be signed, the Taleban officials said. Talks between Afghans on both sides of the conflict would follow to decide on the shape of a post-war Afghanistan.

The Taleban shura, or ruling council, is currently debating whether to accept the US cease-fire proposal, the Taleban officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, but were familiar with the ongoing US-Taleban negotiations. (AP)