.Behind the Suicide Bombing in Somalia
Weeks of heavy fighting in Somalia took an even deadlier turn on Thursday when a suicide bomber drove a car full of explosives into the front of a hotel in the west of the country, killing Somalia's National Security Minister, a former ambassador and at least 20 others. Somalia's extremist Islamist militia, al-Shabaab, said it carried out the attack.
The attack happened when a man steered a small car toward the gate of the Medina Hotel in Beledweyne, near the border with Ethiopia. The car veered into parked cars and exploded. National Security Minister Omar Hashi Aden and former Somali ambassador to Ethiopia Abdul Karim Farah Laqanyo were among those who died. "It was an act of terrorism, and it is part of the terrorist attack on our people," Somali President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed told journalists in the capital, Mogadishu. "Al-Qaeda is attacking us."
In the capital of neighboring Kenya, Somali Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke said he had information that more than 100 people were killed. The attack underlined fears that Somalia is developing into a third front in the war against terrorism and militant Islam. It also was the bloodiest episode in two months of heavy fighting in which Sharif's beleaguered government has consistently ceded ground and lives to Sharif's former allies in Somalia's hard-line Islamist movement.
In the capital of neighboring Kenya, Somali Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke said he had information that more than 100 people were killed. The attack underlined fears that Somalia is developing into a third front in the war against terrorism and militant Islam. It also was the bloodiest episode in two months of heavy fighting in which Sharif's beleaguered government has consistently ceded ground and lives to Sharif's former allies in Somalia's hard-line Islamist movement.
If that collision of big guns and bad ideas weren't enough, lawlessness on land has spurred more of it at sea, making Somalia not only the world's most failed state and the home of its worst humanitarian crisis but also a center of piracy. The geo-strategic elements of this enduring catastrophe explain why it is watched blow by blow by both the U.S. and al-Qaeda.
Washington believes al-Shabaab still harbors two al-Qaeda bombers responsible for the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and has launched air and missile strikes on suspected militants several times since early 2007, killing at least two Islamist leaders. Osama bin Laden makes frequent broadcasts urging Somalis to defeat Americans, Ethiopians and anyone with any connection to either. The stakes could hardly be higher, says analyst Hassan. "If these guys [the Islamists] succeed in taking over Somalia, they will create havoc in the entire continent. The world needs to act quickly."
Time
The attack happened when a man steered a small car toward the gate of the Medina Hotel in Beledweyne, near the border with Ethiopia. The car veered into parked cars and exploded. National Security Minister Omar Hashi Aden and former Somali ambassador to Ethiopia Abdul Karim Farah Laqanyo were among those who died. "It was an act of terrorism, and it is part of the terrorist attack on our people," Somali President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed told journalists in the capital, Mogadishu. "Al-Qaeda is attacking us."
In the capital of neighboring Kenya, Somali Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke said he had information that more than 100 people were killed. The attack underlined fears that Somalia is developing into a third front in the war against terrorism and militant Islam. It also was the bloodiest episode in two months of heavy fighting in which Sharif's beleaguered government has consistently ceded ground and lives to Sharif's former allies in Somalia's hard-line Islamist movement.
In the capital of neighboring Kenya, Somali Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke said he had information that more than 100 people were killed. The attack underlined fears that Somalia is developing into a third front in the war against terrorism and militant Islam. It also was the bloodiest episode in two months of heavy fighting in which Sharif's beleaguered government has consistently ceded ground and lives to Sharif's former allies in Somalia's hard-line Islamist movement.
If that collision of big guns and bad ideas weren't enough, lawlessness on land has spurred more of it at sea, making Somalia not only the world's most failed state and the home of its worst humanitarian crisis but also a center of piracy. The geo-strategic elements of this enduring catastrophe explain why it is watched blow by blow by both the U.S. and al-Qaeda.
Washington believes al-Shabaab still harbors two al-Qaeda bombers responsible for the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and has launched air and missile strikes on suspected militants several times since early 2007, killing at least two Islamist leaders. Osama bin Laden makes frequent broadcasts urging Somalis to defeat Americans, Ethiopians and anyone with any connection to either. The stakes could hardly be higher, says analyst Hassan. "If these guys [the Islamists] succeed in taking over Somalia, they will create havoc in the entire continent. The world needs to act quickly."
Time
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