Strike a show of al-Shabaab might: Officer

Somali military commander Yusuf Hussein Dhumal (R) and police commander Abdi Hassan Awale addressing a news conference in Mogadishu last Saturday. Mr Dhumal and Mr Awalen both survived last Thursday’s suicide car bomb attack on the main African Union military base in Mogadishu. Photo/ REUTERS


By HENRY OWUORPosted Tuesday, September 22 2009 at 18:25

An intelligence officer whose duty is to monitor Somalia describes the attack last Thursday that killed 17 African Union soldiers and four Somalis as a well-planned operation and not an act of revenge.
The officer says the strike had very little to do with revenge over a US raid that killed a top terror suspect, Sheikh Ali Nabhan. Says the officer who sought anonymity: “What happened on Thursday was planned in advance. Nabhan was just a catalyst. You need time to train suicide bombers.’’
Prior to the bombings that targeted the African force’s headquarters in Mogadishu and a US firm known as Dyncorp, said the officer who serves with the African forces, there were plans for a major operation by Somali government to take positions held by al-Shabaab and other radical groups in Mogadishu. The bombing means the plans leaked out and it shows the militants have very good intelligence and are sending a message that says: “We can hit you anytime we want.’’
People were injured What took place in Mogadishu last Thursday started three months ago in Baidoa and Jowhar, with the theft of UN vehicles, some of which were bullet proof land cruisers.
The Mogadishu attack involved three vehicles in UN colours, two targeting the AU force’s headquarters and the other one hitting a US firm where two people were injured.
The intelligence officer tells of signs that Somali militants are well-trained. In one case in an attack early this year that killed 11 peacekeepers, the attackers were well known to AU troops.
They were people who usually delivered supplies such as phone cards to the force also known as Amisom. So far this year, there have been four suicide bombings in Somalia. They include the one in which the country’s Security minister, Mr Omar Hashi, died alongside Somalia’s ambassador to South Africa and nine other people.
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