Garowe Online (Garowe)
27 November 2008
Authorities in Somalia's northern breakaway sub-state of Somaliland declared on Thursday that al Shabaab militants waging an insurgency in southern Somalia are behind deadly suicide attacks that killed at least 20 people last month.
Abdullahi "Irro" Ismail, Somaliland's interior minister, told a Thursday press conference in the capital Hargeisa that the 29-day police investigation revealed that al Shabaab organized and executed three suicide bombings that targeted the presidential palace, UN offices and the Ethiopian trade office.
"Ahmed Abdi Godane and [al Shabaab spokesman] Muktar Robow [Abu Mansur] planned this attack," Mr. Abdullahi Irro told the press conference.
Somaliland's interior minister said one of the key organizers escape Hargeisa, adding: "The public will see the arrested men when we bring them to court."
He said that there were six suicide bombers, but only one individual was from the Somaliland regions and the rest were from southern Somalia.
"Somaliland's enemy, from day one to today, has always been al Shabaab," Interior Minister Ismail Irro said.
Somaliland, in the country's northwest, unilaterally declared independence from Somalia in 1991 but has not been recognized internationally.
The region has been relatively stable and has a functioning government, led by President Dahir Riyale.
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