Somali authorities were questioning two suspects on Friday over a suicide attack in Baidoa, where the country’s weak government is based, as war fears grew in the shattered African nation.
Eight people were killed in Thursday’s car-bombing, which the security forces suggested was the work of a powerful Islamist movement that controls most of south and central Somalia, including the capital, Mogadishu.
”The government condemns this act of terrorism, but we are currently interrogating two people whom we suspect were involved and might shed more light on the incident,” said Information Minister Ali Jama.
”We do not want to jump to conclusions, but all indications are that the attack was carried out by the Islamists in Mogadishu because they are the ones who have invited foreigners with this kind of expertise,” Jama told the media.
He said the suspects were seized shortly after a vehicle packed with explosives was detonated on Thursday at a checkpoint in Baidoa, the only town held by the weak government, some 250km north-west of the capital.
Patrols were intensified around the town, where security has already been heightened for several weeks since a failed attempt to assassinate Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed.
The government also blamed that suicide car bombing on September 18 on the Islamists, who denied responsibility but have since declared holy war on Ethiopian troops protecting the government.
Officials said that the explosives detonated in Thursday’s attack could have been intended for a more significant target in Baidoa.
”All indications are that they were trying to bring the explosives into Baidoa and their motive could be killing government officials, but we expect to get a clearer picture from the interrogation,” Jama said.
”We have, of course, increased security in Baidoa, but we must make it clear that this government will not be brought down by suicide bombers.”
Thursday’s attack came hours after Ethiopia’s Parliament adopted a resolution that called the Islamists a ”clear and present danger” and authorised the government to take ”any legal action against any invasion coming to our country.”
The vote followed an earlier Islamist-claimed attack on an Ethiopian military convoy outside Baidoa and came a day after they accused Ethiopia of shelling a town they hold near the border.
Worried diplomats at the United Nations have called on all nations to respect a 1992 arms embargo on Somalia amid reports of massive military build-ups by the rival parties with embargo violations by 10 nations.
Faced with fears of further attacks, the terrified government urged the UN Security Council to lift or modify the embargo to allow the deployment of peacekeepers, who would help improve security in the lawless African nation.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi denies deploying thousands of troops to Somalia but acknowledges sending military advisers and trainers to assist the internationally backed but largely powerless Somali government.
Mainly Christian Ethiopia has watched with growing concern the rise on its south-eastern border of the Islamists, who seized Mogadishu in June.
Analysts have accused arch-foes Ethiopia and Eritrea, who are still at odds over their unresolved border dispute, of fighting a proxy war in Somalia.
Eritrea has also flatly rejected the claims, but said Ethiopia should stay out of Somalia. — AFP
