சோமாலி தீவிரவாதிகள் ஐ.நா மையம் மீது தாக்குதல், 22 நபர்கள் பலி

வியாழக்கிழமை, 20 ஜூன் 2013 : மொகாடிசு : சோமாலியா தலைநகர் மொகாடிசுல் உள்ள முக்கிய ஐ.நா மையம் மீது   பயங்கரவாத தாக்குதலில் 22 நபர்கள் பலியாகியுள்ளனர். மொகாடிசுவில் அமைந்துள்ள ஐக்கிய நாடுகளின் முன்னேற்ற திட்ட மையத்தின் நேற்று காரில் வைக்கப்பட்டிருந்த வெடிகுண்டு வெடித்தது. இதில் ஏற்பட்ட பரபரப்பை பயன்படுத்தி ஆயுதமேந்திய தீவிரவாதிகள்  ஐ.நா மையத்தின் உள்ளே நுழைந்தனர். அங்கு பாதுகாப்பு பணியில் ஈடுபட்டிருந்த ஆப்பிரிக்க ஒன்றியத்தின் அமைதி படைக்கும் போராளிகளுக்கும் இடையே நடந்த துப்பாக்கி சண்டையில் 22 பேர் பலியாகினர். பலியானோரில் 4 ஐ.நா பாதுகாப்பு படையினர் மற்றும் 4 உள்ளூர் பாதுகாப்பு படையினர் அடங்குவர்.

இந்த தாக்குதலை ஐ.நா பொது செயலர் பான் கீ மூன் வன்மையாக கண்டிப்பதாக அறிவித்துள்ளார். இந்நிலையில் இந்த தாக்குதலுக்கு பொறுபேற்று அல் சபாப்  என்ற தீவிரவாத அமைப்பு,  அமெரிக்காவின் நலன்களை பாதுகாக்க அமைக்கப்பட்ட சாத்தானிய சக்தியான ஐ.நாவை விரட்டும் வரை இது போன்ற தாக்குதல் தொடரும் என அறிவித்துள்ளது.

English Summary : Somalia defies Islamist threats after UN attack.

 MOGADISHU, Somalia – Somalia’s Al-Qaeda linked Shebab insurgents shot and blasted their way into the United Nations (UN) compound in Mogadishu on Wednesday, June 19, leaving 9 people dead in the most serious attack on the UN in the troubled country in recent years. Three foreigners in the UN compound died in the attack, along with a Somali UN employee, two Somali security guards and 3 civilians in the surrounding streets, officials said. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was “shocked” by the brazen daylight raid while Somali Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon condemned it as a “senseless and despicable attack on innocent UN civilians”. Shebab fighters, who boasted about the killings of “infidels”, used a pickup truck laden with explosives and suicide attackers to blast their way into the fortified base. Interior Minister Abdikarim Hussein Guled said 7 Shebab fighters took part in attack, all of whom either detonated suicide vests or were shot dead. Security warnings of an attack have been in place for weeks, and UN staff regularly practice sheltering in a secure bunker inside the central Mogadishu compound. “Our commandos attacked the UN compound… we set off an explosion and entered,” a senior Shebab official told AFP, saying they had wanted to attack “the infidel forces.” Somali and African Union (AU) troops later moved into the complex — despite the Islamists battling back with heavy gunfire — to end the hour and an half seige. “Somali soldiers along with African Union forces stormed the compound and killed the attackers,” said Somali police official Abdulahi Osman. He said 3 civilians were confirmed killed, caught in the crossfire in streets near the compound. UN sources said those others killed included one foreign staff member, one local staff member, two international contractors and two Somali security guards. The nationalities of the foreigners could not be immediately confirmed. An AFP reporter saw several bloodied bodies carried away on makeshift stretchers. “Some of the ‘white kuffar’ (non-believers) who tried to engage the mujahedeen in combat inside the offices were killed and thrown out into the compound,” the Shebab wrote on Twitter. The UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) said the compound — home to UN humanitarian agencies — had come under “complex attack”, and UN staff elsewhere in the city were temporarily pulled back to the secure airport zone. An AFP reporter near the scene of the attack reported heavy gunfire after a series of inital explosions, as the fighters battled with security forces. The compound — including both residential and office areas — is a short distance from the airport zone, the base of the AU troops, but is guarded by its own security officers. Somalia’s capital has been hit by a series of attacks including suicide and car bombings, mortar attacks and shootings, although in recent weeks the city has been relatively calm. Islamist Shebab militants used to control most of the seaside capital until they abandoned fixed positions in August 2011, but the insurgents have since carried out a string of attacks against the UN-backed government. The last major attack was in April, when the Shebab sent a 9-man suicide commando unit to blast its way into Mogadishu’s main court complex. Some of the commandoes blew up their explosives vests while others sprayed gunfire in a rampage that killed 34 people. Reports suggest that the attack on the UN compound used similar tactics to the courthouse assault. The 17,000-strong AU force, fighting alongside Somali government troops, has forced the Shebab from a series of key towns. While driven by infighting and hunted by US drones, Shebab extremists remain a potent threat, launching car bombs and assassinations, and are still powerful in rural areas as well as reportedly infiltrating the security forces. Shirdon condemned the attack. “The UN are our friends and partners, and the UN agencies offer us humanitarian help and support, so I and all Somalis are appalled that they should be the target and victims of such barbaric violence,” he said in a statement. In 2008, a car bomb attack on the compound of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in the self-declared independent state of Somaliland left two UN staff dead.

Courtesy : Rappler.com

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