Strike a show of al-Shabaab might: Officer

An intelligence officer whose duty is to monitor Somalia describes the attack last Thursday that killed 17 African Union soldiers and four Somalis as a well-planned operation and not an act of revenge.

The officer says the strike had very little to do with revenge over a US raid that killed a top terror suspect, Sheikh Ali Nabhan.

Says the officer who sought anonymity: “What happened on Thursday was planned in advance. Nabhan was just a catalyst. You need time to train suicide bombers.’’

Prior to the bombings that targeted the African force’s headquarters in Mogadishu and a US firm known as Dyncorp, said the officer who serves with the African forces, there were plans for a major operation by Somali government to take positions held by al-Shabaab and other radical groups in Mogadishu.

The bombing means the plans leaked out and it shows the militants have very good intelligence and are sending a message that says: “We can hit you anytime we want.’’

People were injured

What took place in Mogadishu last Thursday started three months ago in Baidoa and Jowhar, with the theft of UN vehicles, some of which were bullet proof land cruisers.

The Mogadishu attack involved three vehicles in UN colours, two targeting the AU force’s headquarters and the other one hitting a US firm where two people were injured.

The intelligence officer tells of signs that Somali militants are well-trained. In one case in an attack early this year that killed 11 peacekeepers, the attackers were well known to AU troops.

They were people who usually delivered supplies such as phone cards to the force also known as Amisom.

So far this year, there have been four suicide bombings in Somalia.

They include the one in which the country’s Security minister, Mr Omar Hashi, died alongside Somalia’s ambassador to South Africa and nine other people.

To confirm that they have come of age, after the latest bombing, Somali militants have released a video showing its members declaring support for Osama bin Laden.

The video also features a message from the terror mastermind describing Somalia’s US-backed president as a traitor.

In the tape, President Sharif Ahmed, currently on his way to New York to attend the UN General Assembly meeting, is described as unIslamic.

Osama says in the tape: “How can intelligent people believe that yesterday’s enemies, on the basis of religion, can become today’s friends?” President Ahmed is a former Islamic Courts Union member, who ruled Somalia as a radical in 2006 before he fled the capital.

He was elected president in neighbouring Djibouti early this year.

The US has declared support for President Ahmed’s government, but Kenyan Foreign minister Moses Wetang’ula has raised questions about US “lone ranger behaviour” in the killing of Nabhan.

Asked about the raid in southern Somalia that saw US commandos landing to take away the body of Nabhan and another unidentified person; Mr Wetang’ula said: “What I do not feel comfortable with is the fact that the US would want to conduct operations in our neighbourhood without information or cooperation or collaboration. That lone ranger behaviour has often not succeeded in many places.”

Nabhan is accused of being the architect of a raid that killed 15 people at an Israeli-owned Mombasa beach hotel in 2002.

Before any major event, comes the silence.

Just before Thursday’s bombing, Mogadishu was unusually quiet and the signs were that al-Shabaab was focusing more on areas outside the city that are controlled by Ahlu Sunna Waljama’a, a group that supports the government of President Ahmed.

So far, out of the 10 Somali regions, the government controls only part of Mogadishu, an area known as Banadir. Two Somali regions, Puntland and Somaliland, are autonomous.

Intelligence sources indicate major training by al-Shabaab but the militants are in no hurry to take the capital city, opting instead for hit-and-run tactics.

10th suicide attack

The militants are not ready to engage in a conventional battle with AU peace keepers who are guarding the presidential palace.

The AU force has so far lost 51 soldiers in militant raids since it was deployed in the country in 2007 and the bombing last Thursday was the 10th suicide attack by militants all over Somalia.

The force currently has 5,300 soldiers out of the targeted 8,000, staffed only by Ugandan and Burundian officers.

Among countries that have pledged troops but have never delivered are Nigeria, Ghana and Malawi.

Meanwhile, an Ethiopian rebel group denied today it is helping Islamist militants in Somalia.

Al-Shaabab on Sunday seized control of Yeed Town on the border with Ethiopia from Somali government forces in fighting that killed at least 14 people.

A local governor said militiamen from the Ethiopian Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) helped al-Shaabab drive out government forces in the attack.

But the ONLF denied the reports of cooperation.

“The Ogaden National Liberation Front has no relationship whatsoever with al-Shaabab, which on several occasions has assassinated ONLF members,” it said in a statement.

“ONLF does not interfere in the internal affairs of Somalia and in fact has so far supported the new transitional government, although aware of the deep involvement of Ethiopia with some warlords working with the current government.”

Additional reporting by Reuters