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

EUR -
AED 4.273744
AFN 80.858152
ALL 97.966701
AMD 446.430281
ANG 2.082402
AOA 1066.973665
ARS 1549.879882
AUD 1.790722
AWG 2.097296
AZN 1.98433
BAM 1.960456
BBD 2.349179
BDT 141.596289
BGN 1.958968
BHD 0.438603
BIF 3430.722491
BMD 1.163548
BND 1.496855
BOB 8.057552
BRL 6.373454
BSD 1.163463
BTN 102.152929
BWP 15.694679
BYN 3.829695
BYR 22805.548866
BZD 2.337111
CAD 1.599547
CDF 3362.655023
CHF 0.938529
CLF 0.02891
CLP 1134.12205
CNY 8.359049
CNH 8.361881
COP 4731.767419
CRC 589.114328
CUC 1.163548
CUP 30.834033
CVE 111.264337
CZK 24.557848
DJF 207.204574
DKK 7.462417
DOP 70.772781
DZD 151.37152
EGP 56.396066
ERN 17.453226
ETB 161.325879
FJD 2.627815
FKP 0.874368
GBP 0.872388
GEL 3.125049
GGP 0.874368
GHS 12.275077
GIP 0.874368
GMD 84.356669
GNF 10093.78292
GTQ 8.928204
GYD 243.432795
HKD 9.133803
HNL 30.659594
HRK 7.538978
HTG 152.682619
HUF 398.204687
IDR 19021.224012
ILS 3.990732
IMP 0.874368
INR 102.096259
IQD 1524.248419
IRR 49014.476328
ISK 142.871924
JEP 0.874368
JMD 185.941609
JOD 0.825029
JPY 171.384892
KES 150.679126
KGS 101.752125
KHR 4665.828743
KMF 495.091707
KPW 1047.13288
KRW 1613.643969
KWD 0.355609
KYD 0.969628
KZT 625.187049
LAK 25132.645528
LBP 104195.760635
LKR 350.041343
LRD 233.873284
LSL 20.826204
LTL 3.435656
LVL 0.703819
LYD 6.32392
MAD 10.575201
MDL 19.762445
MGA 5160.336829
MKD 61.676481
MMK 2442.650045
MNT 4178.809025
MOP 9.407509
MRU 46.42509
MUR 53.171626
MVR 17.915133
MWK 2020.499869
MXN 21.627398
MYR 4.922082
MZN 74.420326
NAD 20.829019
NGN 1777.029893
NIO 42.760163
NOK 11.857082
NPR 163.442173
NZD 1.961987
OMR 0.447368
PAB 1.163523
PEN 4.136409
PGK 4.811861
PHP 66.695694
PKR 328.760847
PLN 4.277147
PYG 8714.697287
QAR 4.2359
RON 5.075632
RSD 117.130905
RUB 93.345678
RWF 1677.255035
SAR 4.365977
SBD 9.592483
SCR 16.457809
SDG 698.708131
SEK 11.202074
SGD 1.495854
SHP 0.914366
SLE 26.882062
SLL 24399.033008
SOS 664.967467
SRD 43.015803
STD 24083.102923
STN 24.841759
SVC 10.180178
SYP 15127.726035
SZL 20.816162
THB 37.628828
TJS 10.879293
TMT 4.084055
TND 3.373141
TOP 2.725144
TRY 47.305686
TTD 7.887937
TWD 34.820933
TZS 2885.600057
UAH 48.405162
UGX 4153.865373
USD 1.163548
UYU 46.69089
UZS 14602.532772
VES 147.713419
VND 30514.057092
VUV 138.606682
WST 3.224781
XAF 657.552586
XAG 0.030712
XAU 0.000344
XCD 3.144547
XCG 2.09688
XDR 0.820201
XOF 660.313258
XPF 119.331742
YER 279.659228
ZAR 20.680049
ZMK 10473.33885
ZMW 26.79101
ZWL 374.662114
  • RBGPF

    -0.0200

    74.92

    -0.03%

  • CMSD

    0.0490

    23.559

    +0.21%

  • BCC

    -3.3050

    83.465

    -3.96%

  • RIO

    0.5920

    60.292

    +0.98%

  • CMSC

    -0.0070

    23.063

    -0.03%

  • JRI

    0.0800

    13.34

    +0.6%

  • RYCEF

    0.1300

    14.48

    +0.9%

  • NGG

    0.3500

    72.63

    +0.48%

  • BCE

    -0.1450

    23.415

    -0.62%

  • RELX

    -1.7550

    48.835

    -3.59%

  • SCS

    0.1050

    16.065

    +0.65%

  • SCU

    0.0000

    12.72

    0%

  • VOD

    0.2850

    11.385

    +2.5%

  • BP

    0.5850

    34.185

    +1.71%

  • AZN

    -0.9000

    73.58

    -1.22%

  • BTI

    0.6650

    56.505

    +1.18%

  • GSK

    -0.5150

    36.805

    -1.4%

Advertisement Image
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.

Advertisement Image

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)

Advertisement Image