Mogadishu suicide bomber “an American”
Aftermath. Suicide attacks like this one in February, targeting a police base in Mogadishu, are a tactic used by al-Shabaab, the al-Qaeda aligned Somali militants. They say a suicide bomber who struck this week was an American citizen.
Al-Shabaab, the Somali militant group that has pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda, announced that a suicide bomber who attacked a military position earlier this week was a Somali-American.
On its website al-Shabaab claimed that a 25-year old called Abdullahi Ahmed from Minnesota blew himself during an attack on a military post manned by African Union soldiers (AMISOM) and government-aligned fighters.
Ahmed was given the nom-de-guerre Al-Amriki, the same alias used by Omar Hammami, the most famous American jihadi to have joined al-Shabaab.
The website said that Ahmed had come to Mogadishu two years ago to join al-Shabaab and said he had become a suicide bomber in order to avenge attacks on Muslim countries by Christians.
The assault on Monday afternoon in central Mogadishu afternoon had limited success when the white saloon car driven by the attackers failed to breach the barricades outside the military position, according to a statement from AMISOM.
Two AMISOM soldiers were killed in the fire-fight as well three of the attackers, at least one of whom blew himself up.
At least two Somali-Americans have carried out suicide attacks in Somalia LINK HERE in recent years and as many as two-dozen young Somali men are thought to have joined the ranks of al-Shabaab.
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