Africa

SOMALIA: Roadside bomb targets another Puntland official

March 5, 2011   ·   205991 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fsomalilandpress.com%2Fsomalia-roadside-bomb-targets-another-puntland-official-20599SOMALIA%3A+Roadside+bomb+targets+another+Puntland+official2011-03-05+10%3A14%3A12Hassan+Alihttp%3A%2F%2Fsomalilandpress.com%2F%3Fp%3D20599

LAS ANOD — A police official from Somalia’s semi-autonomous region of Puntland escaped unscathed when a bomb exploded by his car on Friday night, Somalilandpress reports.

According to eyewitnesses in the central Somali town of Galkayo, a landmine hidden in dirt by the side of the road rocked a vehicle belonging to Adan Nur, Puntland’s chief of police for Mudug region, around 9pm local time.

He was unharmed however three bystanders were injured some of them severely and were taken to local hospital.

Mr. Nur says this was a political assassination attempt and an intimidation. In any case, he added an investigation was underway.

This is the third such attack in Puntland in less than three weeks. On Wednesday, a similar attack killed a civilian driver and injured three of his passengers in Puntland’s commercial town of Bosasso.

Residents in Galkayo have been protesting about the lack of security in the town. They say almost each district and clan has its own armed militia while its normal to carry weapons around in Puntland’s urban towns.

In the past few days, the Puntland regime has arrested several hundred internally displaced Somalis fleeing the prolonged conflict in southern Somalia ragging between the weak transitional government led by former cleric Sheikh Sharif and al-Shabab insurgents.

Majority of the detained people are from the alta-Jubba regions and are members of the Digil and Mirifle clans. Puntland is home to Somalia’s largest pirate bases where many foreign hostages are held including recently kidnapped Danish family.

Somalia has not had a functioning government for more than 20 years and it is considered one of few states in the world classified as a failed state.

Somalilandpress | 5 March 2011

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By Hassan Ali

Tags: Bomb, Digil, Galkayo, Mirifle, pirates, Puntland, Somalia