update Mogadishu fighting kills 52 civilians in a week-groupUgandan peacekeepers in Somalia (Amisom) were yesterday believed to have been engaged in fighting alongside Somalia government troops after being attacked by al Shabaab Islamist militants.
Several media reports indicated that at least 12 people were killed and 43 injured in the fighting that began on Sunday. But Maj. Barigye Ba-Hoku, the Amisom spokesman, while confirming the fighting said troops from the continental force were not involved.
Troops safe
“Our troops are relatively safe but the situation here is volatile,” he said by phone from Mogadishu. Al Shabaab spokesman Abdulaziz Abu Musab told the Associated Press that his group attacked the AU bases late Sunday in Bondhere and Shibi districts and captured new territory in the northern parts of Mogadishu where most of the fighting took place.Government officials admitted momentarily losing some ground to the militants linked to the terrorist outfit, al Qaeda. “Our soldiers repelled the terrorists and regained control of the areas we lost in Sunday evening’s battle,” said Hassan Kulmiye Alasow, the deputy chairman of Bodhere District. Alasow said government forces backed by Amisom counterattacked Monday morning to recapture a government office. The fighting was the worst since al Shabaab carried out the deadly bombings in Uganda during the World Cup final on July 11 in which 76 people died.Uganda was targeted because its troops are part of the AU peacekeeping mission. President Museveni has said he will be pushing for a change of Amisom’s mandate at the ongoing AU Summit in Kampala to allow Uganda’s forces to go on an all-out offensive against the militants. The Islamic insurgents have been trying for three years to overthrow the fragile, UN-backed Transitional Federal Government of President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, which is holed up in a small section of Mogadishu. Suicide bombers Meanwhile, the Inspector General of Police, Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura, said last night that some members of the public volunteered “valuable information” about the July 5/11 bombing suspects after recognising their faces in re-constructed pictures published in Daily Monitor yesterday.“We are already starting to get information from people who are saying they saw these men,” he said, “It’s all a great value addition to our investigations.”The developments came as police announced they have picked up six more Pakistani nationals, this time from eastern Uganda.Four Pakistanis were among another group of six suspects arrested earlier from Kamwokya, a Kampala suburb, at the weekend.The fresh Saturday arrests in eastern Uganda were made in Odepoi village of the Pallisa district as the foreign nationals allegedly registered residents at a Mosque.“We are holding them as investigations take place,” District Police Commander Julius Bakka said, adding: “They were initially on the security radar for addressing Muslim worshippers in unauthorised rallies.”Maj. Gen. Kayihura said this group was previously based in Kasese but fled the southwestern district after becoming aware that they were under surveillance.“They have been recruiting children to take to Pakistan. They will have to tell us what for.” Their hosts at Masjid Noor Mosque in Pallisa town, led by one Abdulla Ssenyondo, reportedly tried to resist arrest of the guests. “These people were cleared to be in the country to preach Islam, why should they be arrested?” he said in an interview.This newspaper has seen a May 14, 2010 letter purportedly authored by the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council religious affairs secretary, Sheikh Muhammed Luwemba, authorising the Pakistanis to carry out Duwa prayers in Pallisa. District Khadhi Abubakar Sempira also confirmed knowledge of Pakistanis.
Yesterday, anti-terrorism experts, among them American Federal Bureau of Investigations and Israeli agents, carried out forensic investigations at Ethiopian Village Restaurant.Previously, FBI agents used intelligence information provided by Ugandan security to re-construct the likely full-body look of the two suspected suicide bombers whose sliced heads were said to have been separately recovered from the blast scenes.
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