Somalia: Insurgents Kills Security Minister
Hardline
insurgents have killed Somalia's security minister
and at least thirty other people in what officials
described as the deadliest suicide bomb attack yet
in the country.
A suicide car bomber targeted
National Security Minister, Omar Hashi Aden and
other officials at a hotel in Baladwayne, a central
town where the Minister was directing operations
against insurgent group, al Shabaab.
Somalia's former Ambassador to
Ethiopia, Abdkarin Farah Laqanyo, was also killed in
the explosion.
Al Shabaab claimed responsibility for
the blast.
Aden moved to Baladwayne at the start
of June with heavily armed troops in a bid to
recapture more territories from hardline insurgents
outside Mogadishu.
Al Shabaab has so far resisted
government’s attempt to drive its fighters from the
capital.
The rebels, along with allied group,
Hizbul Islam, control most of southern Somalia
bordering Kenya and parts of the central region.
REUTERS/Qasim / Funke