14, December 2017
Somalia: Bomb attack kills 17 at Mogadishu police academy 0
The al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab militant group has launched a bombing attack on a police training camp in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, killing at least 17 officers and injuring 20 others.
The casualties took place on Thursday, when an assailant infiltrated the General Kahiye Police Training Academy during an early morning parade and detonated the explosives strapped around his waist and torso.
“A man wearing an explosive vest entered the camp disguised as a policeman, and blew himself up,” police officer Mohamed Abdulle said. “Medical rescuers are still working on evacuating the casualties.”
Witnesses said the bomber, in order to inflict maximum damage, targeted a spot where soldiers had gathered to rehearse for Somalia’s Police Day celebrations scheduled for December 20.
The Takfiri terrorist group immediately claimed responsibility for the deadly attack but gave a higher death toll.
The General Kahiye Police Training Academy is the biggest training camp for police and security forces in Somalia.
The Horn of Africa nation has been the scene of deadly clashes between government forces and al-Shabab militants since 2006.
The Takfiri militant group was forced out of the capital by African Union troops in 2011 but still controls parts of the countryside and carries out attacks against government, military, and civilian targets in Mogadishu and regional towns.
The extremist group is just one of the challenges facing the new Somali government, which is still struggling to expand its authority beyond the capital and other selected areas.
The Thursday attack comes as the African Union is finalizing plans to trim its peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM), which was deployed a decade ago to help secure the Somali government.
The force of 22,000 is set to lose 1,000 soldiers this month as part of a long-term plan to withdraw troops from the country and hand security to the Somali army.
Source: Presstv
18, December 2017
Over 60 dead after days of violence in Ethiopia 0
At least 61 people have been killed in clashes between different ethnic groups in Ethiopia’s Oromiya region, officials said, the latest bout of violence to highlight increasing instability in a province racked by bloody protests in 2015 and 2016.
From Thursday, 29 ethnic Oromos were killed by ethnic Somali attackers in the region’s Hawi Gudina and Daro Lebu districts, regional spokesman Addisu Arega Kitessa said.
The violence triggered revenge attacks by ethnic Oromos in another district, resulting in the killing of 32 Somalis who were being sheltered in the area following a previous round of violence.
“The region is working to bring the perpetrators to justice,” the spokesman said in a statement.
The cause of the latest violence was not known, but it followed protests in Oromiya’s Celenko town where the region’s officials said 16 ethnic Oromos were shot dead on Tuesday by soldiers trying to disperse the crowd.
“We do not know who ordered the deployment of the military. This illegal act should be punished,” said Lema Megersa, the region’s president.
The clashes are likely to fuel fears about security in Ethiopia, the region’s biggest economy and a staunch Western ally.
Lema’s comments also illustrate growing friction within Ethiopia’s ruling EPRDF coalition, since unrest roiled the Oromiya region in 2015 and 2016, when hundreds of people were killed.
At that time, the violence forced the government to impose a nine-month state of emergency that was only lifted in August.
The unrest was provoked by a development scheme for the capital Addis Ababa that dissidents said amounted to land grabs and turned into broader anti-government demonstrations over political and human rights.
It included attacks on businesses, many of them foreign-owned, including farms growing flowers for export.
(Source: Reuters)