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Somali minister escapes assassination in Mogadishu

Xinhua
Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Prof Abdullahi A. Afrah
Somali Minister for Commerce
Abdullahi Ahmed Afrah, Somali minister for commerce, escaped an attempt on his life after a roadside bomb hit his convoy as it was moving in a street in the north of the Somali capital of Mogadishu on Tuesday.

According to the minister, four of his bodyguards and ten other passers-by were wounded.

Afrah told a local radio that the attack was carried out by " the usual guys who often bomb the city", saying the transitional government will investigate the incident and "when we put our hands on the culprits, we'll bring them in front of the law."

The Somali minister is the latest government official to be the target of assassination.

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A series of suicide attacks, roadside bombings, and hand grenades and shootings were used to attempt on the lives of government officials from the president to the presidential spokesman.

No group has claimed responsibility for this latest attack, but Somali government officials accuse insurgent groups opposed to them of being behind the latest wave of bombings in Mogadishu.

Hussein Mohamed Mohamud, the presidential spokesman, escaped an attempt on his life by unknown gunmen on June 18, after he was shot twice as he was driving in a street in Mogadishu.

There has been an upsurge of violence since the Somali government announced the postponement of the national reconciliation conference until mid July.

Source: Xinhua, June 27, 2007