Militant blasts rock Somali capital
MOGADISHU: Al-Shabaab Islamist militants attacked a government building housing two ministries in the Somali capital yesterday, setting off two big blasts before gunmen stormed inside, killing at least 10 people.
Fighting was still raging around the building, which houses the ministries of higher education and petroleum and minerals.
It is the latest in a series of raids in Mogadishu by al-Shabaab, which wants to topple Somalia’s Westernbacked government and impose its own strict version of Islamic law.
The group also attacked a university campus in neighbouring Kenya this month, killing 148 people.
“First
two
blasts
occurred,
a bike blast and a car blast, outside the building, then armed fighters stormed in,” police Major Ali Nur said.
About an hour and a half after the explosions, police said they had secured the building.
Al-Shabaab’s military operations spokesman, Sheikh Abdiasis Abu, confirmed that the group was behind the attack.
Government spokesman Ridwaan Haji said 10 people had been killed in the attack, including two soldiers and eight civilians. Seven militants had also been killed.
Police Colonel Hussein Ibrahim said one of the soldiers was with the AU peacekeeping force, which has led a military campaign against al-Shabaab with Somali troops and also guards major government buildings and installations.
“Now the fighting is over and the building is secured.”
Trader Omar Mohamed, who works near the scene, said he was thrown off his chair by the blasts. He said attackers sprayed gunfire at security forces during their battle to retake the building.
Al-Shabaab, which once ruled much of Somalia, lost control of Mogadishu in 2011 and has been driven out of remaining major strongholds in a joint AU-Somalia military offensive which was launched last year.
Despite losing territory, the group has shown it can strike Somali targets and also across the border into Kenya. – Reuters LOS ANGELES: A famed mountain lion with his own Facebook page has triggered a media storm by taking refuge in a Los Angeles house and resisting all efforts to evict him.
Workers installing a security system in the home in the affluent hillside Los Feliz neighbourhood came face to face with the puma, or cougar, known as P-22, yesterday, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Officials tried to prod the cat with a long pole and get its attention with tennis balls, before resorting to shooting at it with bean bags, but to no avail.
The cat became something of a celebrity in the area after it was discovered living in a park about three years ago. Local authorities named him P-22 and more than 1 400 people have since signed up to “like” the “Friends of P22 Mountain Lion” Facebook page. – Reuters