Somali Islamists claim attack on Prime Minister

MOGADISHU – A militant Islamist group yesterday claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb that killed seven people at the home of Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi, vowing to continue attacks until ‘occupiers’ left Somalia.

Gedi – who has now survived four attempts on his life in the last two years – blamed al Qaeda for the Sunday night blast at his compound in north Mogadishu. “We can no longer cohabit with these terrorists….We have to eliminate them,” he told local radio.Five soldiers and two civilians died when the bomber detonated a vehicle rigged with explosives at the gates of his large compound in a heavily guarded northern neighbourhood.African Union peacekeepers raced in to whisk him to safety.A group calling itself the Mujahideen Youth Movement said in a statement on the Internet that “a lion …our brave brother Abdul-Aziz Mohammad Semter …carried out a heroic martyrdom operation at the residence of the apostate prime minister.”It added: “Your brethren at the Mujahideen Youth Movement are pressing on with their holy fight against all occupiers and apostates.”The statement could not be immediately verified but was on a site used by al Qaeda and other Islamist militants.Near daily attacks on government troops and their Ethiopian military allies are blamed on members of an ousted Islamist movement who have vowed to wage an “Iraq-style” insurgency.Yesterday morning, assailants tossed grenades at a pickup truck full of government soldiers in Mogadishu, witnesses said.Nobody died, but the early morning attack underscored tensions in the coastal city.Gedi’s interim administration, which is due to pave the way for elections in 2009, was established in 2005 in the 14th attempt to bring central rule to the Horn of Africa nation since the 1991 ouster of a dictator ushered in a period of anarchy.Nampa-Reuters”We can no longer cohabit with these terrorists….We have to eliminate them,” he told local radio.Five soldiers and two civilians died when the bomber detonated a vehicle rigged with explosives at the gates of his large compound in a heavily guarded northern neighbourhood.African Union peacekeepers raced in to whisk him to safety.A group calling itself the Mujahideen Youth Movement said in a statement on the Internet that “a lion …our brave brother Abdul-Aziz Mohammad Semter …carried out a heroic martyrdom operation at the residence of the apostate prime minister.”It added: “Your brethren at the Mujahideen Youth Movement are pressing on with their holy fight against all occupiers and apostates.”The statement could not be immediately verified but was on a site used by al Qaeda and other Islamist militants.Near daily attacks on government troops and their Ethiopian military allies are blamed on members of an ousted Islamist movement who have vowed to wage an “Iraq-style” insurgency.Yesterday morning, assailants tossed grenades at a pickup truck full of government soldiers in Mogadishu, witnesses said.Nobody died, but the early morning attack underscored tensions in the coastal city.Gedi’s interim administration, which is due to pave the way for elections in 2009, was established in 2005 in the 14th attempt to bring central rule to the Horn of Africa nation since the 1991 ouster of a dictator ushered in a period of anarchy.Nampa-Reuters