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By Hussein Ali Noor
* Device hidden among milk cans near mosque
* Follows Jan. 12 assault on police station
* Rebels want to destabilize northern Somalia
Hargeysa, Somaliland, January 30, 2010 – A bomb hidden near a mosque
killed four policemen in Somaliland on Monday in the latest attack on
security forces in the region, police sources said.
Somaliland is proud of its relative stability compared with southern
regions of the failed Horn of Africa state, where hardline al Shabaab
rebels control large amounts of territory and are fighting a weak
Western-backed government.
Washington accuses al Shabaab of being al Qaeda's proxy in Somalia, and
security experts say the group wants to extend its influence north --
aiming to destabilize Somaliland and the neighboring pro-government,
semi-autonomous region of Puntland.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for Monday's blast, which
came just days after unidentified attackers hurled hand grenades and
fired at the main police station in Las Anod near the Puntland border on
January 12, wounding three officers.
The police sources said the device had been hidden among milk cans left
near Las Anod's Grand Mosque, and it detonated as they inspected the
cans. Two policemen were severely wounded.
In two separate violent incidents in the area late on Sunday, gunmen
ambushed and killed a senior police operations officer as he returned
home from evening prayers, and a woman was killed by an explosion near
Las Anod's hospital.
Earlier this month, Somaliland's security forces said they had foiled an
attack on a Hargeysa mosque where the imam had spoken out against
suicide bombings carried out by al Shabaab insurgents in southern
Somalia.
Al Shabaab hit Somaliland and Puntland with synchronized suicide blasts
that killed at least 24 people in October 2008. A court in Hargeysa has
sentenced five men to death in absentia for those bombings, and said
they were on the run in other parts of Somalia. Somaliland has long
sought international recognition as sovereign state. It declared itself
independent in 1991.
Analysts worry a simmering political row between the president of
Somaliland and opposition parties over delayed elections could trigger a
re-arming among clan militias, further violence and more turmoil for al
Shabaab to exploit.
Source: Reuters, Mon Jan 25, 2010
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