Berliner Boersenzeitung - Suicide bombing in Somalia town kills 14 on eve of vote

EUR -
AED 3.999581
AFN 78.450719
ALL 98.465685
AMD 428.409662
ANG 1.949364
AOA 997.435867
ARS 1184.984416
AUD 1.814614
AWG 1.960026
AZN 1.821666
BAM 1.942693
BBD 2.212275
BDT 133.121871
BGN 1.942693
BHD 0.413014
BIF 3256.529276
BMD 1.088904
BND 1.464817
BOB 7.570922
BRL 6.364205
BSD 1.095608
BTN 93.474359
BWP 15.260046
BYN 3.585609
BYR 21342.50916
BZD 2.200852
CAD 1.551393
CDF 3128.420054
CHF 0.932374
CLF 0.027114
CLP 1040.490158
CNY 7.928905
CNH 7.95296
COP 4553.479184
CRC 554.260587
CUC 1.088904
CUP 28.855944
CVE 109.526064
CZK 25.222254
DJF 195.113633
DKK 7.443973
DOP 69.193177
DZD 145.096085
EGP 55.798357
ERN 16.333553
ETB 144.412795
FJD 2.520707
FKP 0.843389
GBP 0.847726
GEL 2.994396
GGP 0.843389
GHS 16.982425
GIP 0.843389
GMD 77.860688
GNF 9482.027899
GTQ 8.455951
GYD 229.223505
HKD 8.466259
HNL 28.032872
HRK 7.482621
HTG 143.362779
HUF 406.377162
IDR 18233.689586
ILS 4.075902
IMP 0.843389
INR 93.133377
IQD 1435.316396
IRR 45842.837943
ISK 143.919915
JEP 0.843389
JMD 172.794215
JOD 0.771918
JPY 158.487185
KES 141.614573
KGS 94.482851
KHR 4386.406369
KMF 490.570932
KPW 980.013184
KRW 1589.265482
KWD 0.335153
KYD 0.91304
KZT 555.522077
LAK 23731.888807
LBP 98170.972965
LKR 324.858289
LRD 219.131592
LSL 20.89324
LTL 3.215249
LVL 0.658667
LYD 5.299248
MAD 10.4348
MDL 19.360382
MGA 5080.722051
MKD 61.122626
MMK 2285.98064
MNT 3819.973698
MOP 8.771323
MRU 43.695203
MUR 48.641574
MVR 16.702071
MWK 1899.882125
MXN 22.404298
MYR 4.831438
MZN 69.591243
NAD 20.89324
NGN 1669.093044
NIO 40.317988
NOK 11.707014
NPR 149.558975
NZD 1.952562
OMR 0.418924
PAB 1.095708
PEN 4.026038
PGK 4.522488
PHP 62.48678
PKR 307.578569
PLN 4.269172
PYG 8783.739022
QAR 3.993954
RON 4.933305
RSD 116.364924
RUB 93.034477
RWF 1578.947365
SAR 4.086443
SBD 9.055683
SCR 15.625876
SDG 653.886002
SEK 11.003174
SGD 1.466677
SHP 0.855707
SLE 24.773018
SLL 22833.763722
SOS 626.175402
SRD 39.904505
STD 22538.104554
SVC 9.587318
SYP 14157.745713
SZL 20.900988
THB 37.492026
TJS 11.926238
TMT 3.811162
TND 3.355164
TOP 2.550321
TRY 41.346217
TTD 7.421927
TWD 36.127098
TZS 2931.025343
UAH 45.096549
UGX 4004.979728
USD 1.088904
UYU 46.34731
UZS 14156.490846
VES 76.399121
VND 28099.155555
VUV 132.974194
WST 3.048468
XAF 651.561133
XAG 0.036798
XAU 0.000358
XCD 2.942816
XDR 0.810333
XOF 651.561133
XPF 119.331742
YER 267.489244
ZAR 20.86203
ZMK 9801.434635
ZMW 30.377056
ZWL 350.626492
  • RIO

    -3.7600

    54.67

    -6.88%

  • BCC

    0.8100

    95.44

    +0.85%

  • CMSC

    0.0300

    22.29

    +0.13%

  • SCS

    -0.0600

    10.68

    -0.56%

  • BCE

    0.0500

    22.71

    +0.22%

  • JRI

    -0.8600

    11.96

    -7.19%

  • BTI

    -2.0600

    39.86

    -5.17%

  • GSK

    -2.4800

    36.53

    -6.79%

  • CMSD

    0.1600

    22.83

    +0.7%

  • NGG

    -3.4600

    65.93

    -5.25%

  • AZN

    -5.4600

    68.46

    -7.98%

  • RELX

    -3.2800

    48.16

    -6.81%

  • RBGPF

    69.0200

    69.02

    +100%

  • VOD

    -0.8700

    8.5

    -10.24%

  • RYCEF

    -1.5500

    8.25

    -18.79%

  • BP

    -2.9600

    28.38

    -10.43%

Suicide bombing in Somalia town kills 14 on eve of vote
Suicide bombing in Somalia town kills 14 on eve of vote

Suicide bombing in Somalia town kills 14 on eve of vote

A suicide bomber killed 14 people in a popular restaurant in the central Somali town of Beledweyne on Saturday, on the eve of a round of voting there, police said.

Text size:

The attack was claimed by the Al-Shabaab Islamist militant group, which has been waging an insurgency in the troubled Horn of Africa nation for years.

Security had been tightened in Beledweyne ahead of a first session of voting for parliamentary seats in the constituency, which lies about 340 kilometres (210 miles) north of the capital Mogadishu.

“The number of people who have died in the heinous terrorist attack in Beledweyne today has increased from 10 people to 14 as of now," local police officer Mohamud Hassan told AFP by phone.

He said some of the 16 civilians earlier reported wounded in the suicide bombing had died of their injuries in hospital. Among the dead were local government officials.

"This was the deadliest attack I can recall in this town," he added.

Al-Shabaab said in a statement that one of its fighters carried out the bombing.

Somalia, particularly Mogadishu, has seen a spate of attacks in recent weeks as the country hobbles through a long-delayed election process.

Witnesses said the huge explosion tore through an open area of the Hassan Dhiif restaurant where people had gathered under trees to eat lunch.

"I saw dead bodies of several people and I could not count how many wounded that were rushed to hospital," said one witness, Mahad Osman.

"Some of these people were waiting for their ordered meals to come while enjoying the fresh weather when the blast occurred," he added.

"I saw... shoes, sticks and hats strewn at the scene of the blast, there was also blood and severed parts of human flesh in the area."

In another incident on Saturday, one person was killed and six others wounded when an explosive device went off in a teashop in Bosaso, the commercial capital of the northern state of Puntland, police said.

No-one has yet claimed responsibility for that blast.

- Political impasse -

Somalia is due to wrap up voting for the lower house of parliament by February 25 under the latest timetable for the elections, which are already more than a year behind schedule.

President President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, better known by his nickname Farmajo, has been at loggerheads with Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble over the election delays, an impasse that has Somalia's international backers worried.

Among those running for a seat in Beledweyne is Farhad Yasin, Somalia's former intelligence chief who is now Farmajo's national security adviser.

Somalia's voting process follows a complex indirect model, whereby state legislatures and clan delegates pick lawmakers for the national parliament, who in turn choose the president.

Voting for the upper house concluded last year, while clan delegates have so far elected 159 of the 275 MPs who sit in the lower house.

Somalia's international partners fear the election crisis distracts from the battle against Al-Shabaab, the Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist group fighting the weak central government.

Its fighters were driven out of Mogadishu in 2011 after an offensive by an African Union force, but they still control vast swathes of rural Somalia from where they launch regular attacks in the capital and elsewhere.

The United States issued a statement on Friday calling on Somalia's leaders to complete the elections in a "credible and transparent manner" by February 25.

"The United States will hold accountable those who obstruct or undermine the process," it said.

Earlier this month, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a decision to restrict visas to current or former Somali officials or others "believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, undermining the democratic process in Somalia".

(U.Gruber--BBZ)