AP: Somalia president reported under attack

[Eugene]

Somalia president reported under attack

By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN, Associated Press Writer

10 minutes ago

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Somalia's president came under mortar attack in his
palace Tuesday, hours after arriving for a rare visit to the increasingly
violent capital, witnesses said. A 12-year-old boy was killed and three
of his siblings were wounded in the shelling, but there was no immediate
word on the fate of President Abdullahi Yusuf.

Yusuf had arrived in Mogadishu from the government stronghold town of
Baidoa shortly before the attack began, an Associated Press reporter said.

"Six mortars have been fired at the presidential palace," said Abdiwahid
Haji Mumin, who lives near the hilltop palace, known as Villa Somalia.
"Two have hit inside the palace and four outside."

-snip-

Full article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070313/ap_on_re_af/somalia

(IRIN News)

SOMALIA: Government moves to Mogadishu

NAIROBI, 13 March 2007 (IRIN) - Somalia's interim parliament has voted
to move the interim government to Mogadishu, the capital, from its
temporary seat in Baidoa, barely three months after Ethiopian-backed
government forces ousted the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) from the
city.

-snip-

Muhammad said the move would take effect immediately. "The President
and his staff had left for Mogadishu this morning ," he added.

The move is linked to a plan announced by the government on Sunday
to "secure and stabilise" Mogadishu within 30 days.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70664

[BayCityProgressive]

1. oh goody

another successful US coup, via our proxy Ethiopia.

[Eugene]

2. Update: Somalia's president unhurt after attack (AP)

Somalia's president unhurt after attack

By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN, Associated Press Writer

19 minutes ago

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Militants fired mortars at the presidential palace Tuesday,
hours after the president moved in, but he was unhurt in the attack that killed
a 12-year-old boy and wounded three of his siblings, witnesses and officials said.

Elsewhere in the increasingly violent capital, a remote-controlled roadside bomb
struck a convoy carrying the deputy mayor, killing two government aides and
seriously wounding a bodyguard, another witness told The Associated Press.
Gunbattles also erupted in the city.

-snip-

Ethiopian tanks quickly sealed off the area and several hundred Ethiopian and
government troops created a 160-foot protective cordon around the palace,
according to an AP reporter.

Yusuf was unharmed during the 10-minute attack, presidential spokesman Hussein
Mohamoud Hussein told the AP.

-snip-

Full article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070313/ap_on_re_af/somalia

[maddezmom]

3. more: Attack on Somali presidential palace kills eight

Attack on Somali presidential palace kills eight
14 Mar 2007 08:04:29 GMT
Source: Reuters

Background
• Somalia troubles


MORE >>
By Sahal Abdulle

MOGADISHU, March 14 (Reuters) - At least eight people were killed during a mortar bomb attack on Somalia's presidential palace, hospital officials said on Wednesday.

The strike on Tuesday came hours after President Abdullahi Yusuf flew into the anarchic capital, Mogadishu, where insurgents have attacked government forces and their allies on an almost daily basis.

"Fourteen people were brought in and two died," a Madina Hospital worker, who did not want to be named, told Reuters.

Other hospital officials and residents said six more people were also killed and a total of 33 injured by the attack on the hilltop Villa Somalia palace, and the ensuing retaliatory gunfire from government and Ethiopian troops.

Most blame the insurgency on remnants of a hardline Islamist movement defeated by the government with Ethiopian military backing in a two-week war that spanned the New Year. It ended a six-month Islamist reign over most of southern Somalia.

more:http://mobile.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L14243724.htm

[bemildred]

4. "remnants" did this? "defeated by the government?"

The "president" shows up and gets mortared immediately, with a loss of 8 of his retinue, and we have defeated remnants doing it? What bullshit.