At least 2 killed by explosion in southern Somali port
Feb 11, 2007 (KISMAYO, Somalia) — An explosion killed at least two people Sunday at a rally in support of a proposed African peacekeeping mission to Somalia.
A senior army commander and police official were among the wounded.
Thousands of residents marched through the southern port city of Kismayo, 400 kilometers southwest of the capital, Mogadishu, chanting slogans in favor of the peacekeepers.
They then gathered at the city’s Freedom Park, where the explosion went off a short while later. The national army commander was expected to address the rally when the blast occurred. It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the explosion.
An Associated Press reporter saw two dead young men at Freedom Park and counted at least 16 wounded people at Kismayo’s general hospital.
Soon after the explosion, government soldiers fired into the crowd and went on to open fire on the streets of Kismayo, but it wasn’t clear whom they were targeting. Ethiopian and Somali government troops sealed off the park after the explosion.
Among the wounded were the commander of the Somali national army’s 3rd Battalion, Col. Abdullahi Sartag, and the police chief for southwestern Somalia, Gen. Ahmed Musa. It wasn’t immediately clear how serious their wounds were.
Kismayo, the third-largest city in Somalia, was the last major city held by the radical Islamic movement that had taken over much of the country’s south. The Council of Islamic Courts was pushed out of the city by Somali government troops and Ethiopian forces in January.
The African Union has proposed a peacekeeping mission to help the transitional government stabilize Somalia, particularly after Ethiopia withdraws its forces, which it says it cannot afford to keep in its neighbor’s territory for long. Already some Ethiopian troops have withdrawn.
(AP)