Hargeysa, Somaliland, November 1, 2008 (SL Times) – Somalia's terrorist organization Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the coordinated car bomb attacks which hit high-profile targets in Somaliland's capital Hargeysa on last Wednesday.

24 people were killed and over 30 wounded in three separate attacks on the presidential palace, Ethiopia 's diplomatic compound and the offices of the United Nations Development Programme.

The blasts were caused by explosives-laden Toyota Surf 4 wheel-drive vehicles which forced entry into the office premises of Somaliland president Dahir Riyale, the Ethiopian diplomatic mission and the UNDP.

No one has immediately claimed responsibility for the 3 deadly attacks. But in a news bulletin broadcast by the Al-Jazeera television channel on Thursday evening, Al-Shabaab was quoted as saying that its fighters had carried out the bombings.

Al-Shabaab also posted a 30-minute video containing the last testament of one of the suicide bombers who apparently took part in the 3 attacks on the Internet on Thursday.

In the clip a young man calls on Muslims to defend Islam and expel foreigners including the African Union and Ethiopian troops from Somalia .

The Al-Shabaab fighter also pledges allegiance to Al-Qaida leaders Usama Bin Laden and Ayman Al-Dawahiri.

The blasts which occurred around 10 o'clock in the morning were a shock to Somalilanders after many years of peace. Most of the casualties were in the presidency and the Ethiopian embassy.

President Riyale's personal secretary, Dahir Eed and a senior anti-terrorism officer called Ibrahim Hutu were among those killed.

The blast levelled the Ethiopian Mission building to the ground killing most of the Somalilanders who were there to apply for Ethiopian visa.

Two of the dead were Embassy staff. Two Somalilanders who worked for the UN were also killed in the attack on the UNDP compound.

Mr. Riyale who was in the presidency when the attack took place, vowed that his country was determined to defeat terror and continue with its democratization process.

“Our nation and our achievements have been attacked but we promise to fight back and I'm sure that in the end Somaliland will prevail,” president Riyale said in a statement he immediately made after the explosion that hit his office.

Somalilanders were unified in their condemnation of the terrorist attacks and in their resolve to protect their hard-won peace and stability.

However Somaliland felt that it was alone in the resistance against its terrorist adversaries. Most Somalilanders had been utterly dismayed by the way some governments and the UN Security Council constructed their reaction to Wednesday's attacks.

A security council statement on the incidents while heaping praise on the UN staff on ground for their action in support of the Somali population was at the same time void of any expressions of sympathy to and appreciation of Somaliland's contributions to regional peace and stability let alone the valuable role played by this country in combating terrorism in the Horn.

The UN and some western governments showed concern that the attacks came as TFG officials were due to meet with regional heads of state for talks in Nairobi about peace and reconciliation in Somalia . While the Security Council seemed to have reacted only because it was worried about the fate of the Nairobi talks, it however failed to show a similar concern over the voter-registration campaign that has been under way in Somaliland in preparation for March 2009 presidential elections when the terrorist attacks happened.

Many Somalilanders feel angered by what they see as an indifference on the part of the international community to the substantial terror threats and developmental challenges that their country is being faced with.

Somalilanders feel further betrayed by the decision of the UN to pull its international staff out of Somaliland following Wednesday's attacks.

Meanwhile initial investigation results revealed that two suicide bombers took part in each of the 3 attacks in Hargeysa. At least 2 of the attackers were known to have come from Mogadishu .

According to police investigators the two belonged to the Hawiye/Habr-Gidir subclan. Both were teenagers (16-17yrs).

In a video posted by Al-Shabab on Islamic websites on Thursday, two of the suicide bombers are identified as Abdul-Aziz Saad and Abul Salam Hersi.

Somaliland's Interior minister Abdillahi Ismail Erro said the blasts were planed from Mogadishu .

Somaliland 's prominent Muslim cleric Sheikh Ali Warsame had condemned the blasts as un-Islamic and heinous attacks.

Speaking from Buroa, the second largest city in Somaliland, the Sheikh said that targeting innocent Muslims and condemning them to death without trail before an Islamic court was un-Islamic and outrageous deed which was be deplored.

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