Somalia

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Somalia Capital Locked Down for Historic Election

Votes allegedly being sold for $30K each

(Newser) - Somalia holds a groundbreaking presidential election Wednesday amid a security lockdown that has closed the capital's international airport and cleared major streets. Fears of attacks by Islamic extremist group al-Shabab have limited the election to the country's legislators, who will vote at the airport, a heavily guarded former...

13 Killed in Massive Assault on Somalia Hotel

Attack involved twin bombs, team of fighters

(Newser) - Terror and mayhem returned to the streets of Somalia's capital Wednesday with an attack on a luxury hotel that involved a team of gunmen and at least two bombs. Police tell Reuters that at least 13 people, including civilians and security forces, were killed when militants attacked Mogadishu's...

Sailors Had to Eat Rats During 4 Years as Pirate Hostages

26 freed men are believed to be pirates' last captives

(Newser) - Some 26 "forgotten hostages" held by Somali pirates for years after the piracy crisis faded from the headlines are finally free. The captives, fishermen from Vietnam, Taiwan, Cambodia, Indonesia, China, and the Philippines, were freed Saturday with the help of the Hostage Support Partners group, which negotiated with tribal...

Girls Saddled With Far More Chores Than Boys

Worldwide, they spend 40% more time on them than boys

(Newser) - In every corner of the world girls do more housework than boys, and this gender gap starts young and only widens with age. So reports UNICEF in a global analysis that finds girls on average spend 40% more time on household chores than do boys, and that this amounts to...

Mall Attacker Was 'Most Assimilated Kid in Neighborhood'

Dahir Adan worked as a security guard

(Newser) - He was a recent college student with an interest in computers who had worked part time as a private security guard. He was said to be an honor student in high school. And he had nothing more than a minor traffic citation on his record. But on Saturday, for reasons...

Gunmen Take Guests Hostage After Blast at Somalia Hotel

Both civilians and gunmen have been reported killed.

(Newser) - Gunmen who stormed a hotel in Somalia's capital have taken an unknown number of hotel guests hostage, police said Saturday, as the attackers set up snipers on the rooftop and threw grenades. Islamic extremist group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the latest in a series of hotel assaults in Mogadishu....

Accused War Criminal Is Security Guard at DC Airport

Somali man allegedly oversaw 'incredible violence'

(Newser) - Yusuf Abdi Ali "oversaw some of the most incredible violence that you can imagine," Center for Justice and Accountability attorney Kathy Roberts tells CNN . "He tortured people personally; he oversaw torture." But despite the war crimes allegations, the Somali man has been working as a security...

US: We Blew Up 150 Militants in Somalia

Pentagon says it destroyed al-Shabab's Raso Camp

(Newser) - A US airstrike using multiple drones and manned aircraft struck a training camp in Somalia Saturday, killing more than 150 al-Shabab fighters who were preparing to launch a large-scale attack, likely against African or US personnel, the Pentagon said Monday. Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, says the US...

Up to 14 Dead in Terrorist Attack on Somali Hotel

Al-Shabab has claimed responsibility

(Newser) - Gunmen from the Islamic extremist group al-Shabab forced their way into a hotel in the Somali capital of Mogadishu on Friday, the AP reports. A suicide bomber rammed his car into the SYL hotel's entrance and gunmen entered the premises after an exchange of gunfire with hotel guards, one...

Al Qaeda-Linked Group Says It's Behind Plane Bomb

Al-Shabab claims the attack 'struck terror in the hearts of the crusaders'

(Newser) - The al Qaeda-linked militant group al-Shabab announced Saturday it was behind the suicide bomb that failed to bring down a passenger jet last week in Somalia, Reuters reports. On Feb. 2, one of the 74 passengers aboard a Daallo Airlines flight from Mogadishu to Djibouti detonated a bomb, putting a...

Pilot of Bombed Plane: Somali Security Is 'Zero'

He also hopes it will be his last bomb

(Newser) - The Serb pilot who landed a jetliner in Somalia with a large hole on its fuselage says he has never doubted that it was caused by a bomb and describes the security at Mogadishu Airport as "zero." After initially saying there was no sign of foul play, Somali...

Officials: Body of Suicide Bomber Blown Out of Plane

Bomber likely used wheelchair to get through security

(Newser) - The explosion aboard a passenger flight in Somalia on Tuesday is now believed to have been caused by a suicide bomber in a wheelchair, the Wall Street Journal reports. Officials believe the explosion blew the bomber through the side of the plane. According to the Telegraph , witnesses reported seeing a...

Explosion Forces Plane to Land With Hole in Side

Jet made a safe landing in Somalia

(Newser) - An explosion and fire blew a gaping hole in a commercial airliner, forcing it to make an emergency landing at Mogadishu's international airport late Tuesday, officials and witnesses say. The pilot says he thought it was a bomb, and an aviation expert who looked at photographs of the hole...

Restaurant Siege Ends With More Than 20 Dead

Somali security forces say many people were rescued

(Newser) - Somalia's security forces ended a deadly siege of a beachfront restaurant in the capital, with more than 20 people killed in the attack, a police official said Friday. Security forces took control of the restaurant just before dawn, said Capt. Mohamed Hussein, speaking from the scene of the attack...

3 Dead as Gunmen Attack Somali Beach Restaurant

Situation is ongoing; there may be hostages

(Newser) - A suicide car bomber rammed the gates of a restaurant near a beach in Somalia's capital before gunmen fought their way into the building in an attack claimed by an Islamic extremist group that killed at least three people on Thursday, a police official said.The assailants may have...

This 13-Year-Old May Be More Talented Than You

Adan Abdi's motorized inventions have won him fame

(Newser) - Maryan Hassan wasn't always so supportive of her son's obsession with crafting toy vehicles and other things from discarded items. The models cluttered the family home in the town of Buhodle in the Somali state of Puntland. But now that 13-year-old Guled Adan Abdi's motorized inventions have...

Seattle Muslims Say Somali Teen Was Pushed to His Death

Police call for patience during investigation into Hamza Warsame's fall off building

(Newser) - "Medics transporting a teenager with life threatening injuries to HMC after a fall of aprox 60ft from a roof on Summit Ave E," read a tweet from Seattle's fire department on Saturday, referring to 16-year-old Hamza Warsame, who died from injuries apparently sustained in that fall, the...

Historic Somalia Visit Constrained to Airport

John Kerry becomes first secretary of state to visit African nation

(Newser) - Secretary of State John Kerry made an unannounced trip to Somalia today, becoming the first top US diplomat to ever visit the country. It marked a show of solidarity with a government trying to defeat al-Shabab and end decades of war. Kerry arrived at Mogadishu's airport shortly before noon...

Kenyan Airstrikes Hit al-Shabab for College Attack

Jets target militant positions in Somalia

(Newser) - Kenya launched airstrikes against Islamic militants in Somalia following last week's extremist attack on a Kenyan college that killed 148 people, a military spokesman said today. Warplanes attacked positions of al-Shabab yesterday afternoon and this morning in the Gedo region of Somalia, said Col. David Obonyo of the Kenyan...

Siege at Somali Hotel Leaves at Least 17 Dead

Security forces reclaim control after attack

(Newser) - Somali troops today took full control of a hotel that extremist gunmen stormed and occupied for more than 12 hours following a suicide bombing. At least 17 people died and dozens were wounded. The gunfire has stopped and security agents have accessed the whole building, said senior police officer Capt....

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