Police Successfully Detect Bomb Targeting Puntland Officials
Roadside Bomb in Bosaso
Bosaso police in Puntland have succeeded to detect and disarm a roadside bomb hidden under the main road of the city and designed to kill Puntland officials as they drove over it.
A large number of Puntland security forces sealed off streets near the bomb area and began search operations to apprehend those responsible.
The police officers told local radio that the bomb aimed to assassinate Puntland officials who were visiting different businesses in the center of Bosaso, but the police received a tip about it before the officials began their drive.
Witnesses say the police arrested number of people but it is still not known if the people detained during the operations are connected with the bomb.
Location of Bomb in Bosaso
The Mayor of Bosaso, Mohamud Farah Beldaje, and the Governor of Bari Region, A/Hafid Ali Yosuf, visited the site of the bomb while the police were doing operations. Both officers accused "enemies of Puntland and a group of mercenaries," of being behind the plot. The officials also requested people to cooperate with the police and other security forces.
In past few months Bosaso has been rocked by planned assassinations and roadside bomb attacks against the officials of Puntland, prominent Somali elders and peace campaigners.
Bomb Hits Kenyan Military Convoy in Border Town
Kenyan Soldiers Unloading at Somali Border
A remote-controlled roadside bomb hit a Kenyan army convoy on patrol at a Kenya-Somali border point in the district of Mandera, killing four soldiers late Thursday.
Eye witnesses told Somalia Report that 3 Kenyan military personnel were wounded and are currently going under treatment at the district hospital. Military expert Ali Sheikh Bashir from the neighbouring town of Belet Hawo told our correspondent that the attack is typical of those conducted by Somalia's al-Shabaab insurgents.
"It is like those that happen in Somalia everyday. It was planted on a road that links Mandera to a military base at the border point," he explained.Mohamed Amin Abdirisak, a local resident who witnessed the incident, said, "I have seen the military truck that was coming back from the border blow up."Asked if he heard gunshots after the explosion Mohamed said, "No, no what I saw was smoke up in the sky but the military did not open fire on anyone." Mohamed was not able to verify any civilian casualties but did say that "all that were killed and wounded were the personnel on the truck."Hundreds of Kenyan military personnel sealed off the scene as locals came out to see the truck.
Eye witnesses told Somalia Report that 3 Kenyan military personnel were wounded and are currently going under treatment at the district hospital. Military expert Ali Sheikh Bashir from the neighbouring town of Belet Hawo told our correspondent that the attack is typical of those conducted by Somalia's al-Shabaab insurgents.
"It is like those that happen in Somalia everyday. It was planted on a road that links Mandera to a military base at the border point," he explained.Mohamed Amin Abdirisak, a local resident who witnessed the incident, said, "I have seen the military truck that was coming back from the border blow up."Asked if he heard gunshots after the explosion Mohamed said, "No, no what I saw was smoke up in the sky but the military did not open fire on anyone." Mohamed was not able to verify any civilian casualties but did say that "all that were killed and wounded were the personnel on the truck."Hundreds of Kenyan military personnel sealed off the scene as locals came out to see the truck.
The situation is now calm but police and military are on high alert as Kenyan security forces are investigating the incident.Mandera, a thriving Kenyan business hub that borders the volatile Somalia, has encountered several casualties from stray shelling as TFG forces regularly battle with Somalia insurgents in the area.Analysts see this as a new tactic as al-Shabaab attempts to paralyse the military back up from the neighbouring countries like Kenya and Ethiopia. Al-Shabaab previously threatened to wage retaliation attacks against Kenya for supporting Somalia's TFG.
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