Al-Qaida-linked militants kill 10 in deadly car blast in Mogadishu

Source  :  Shanghai Daily

A suicide car bomber killed at least 10 people yesterday in the worst attack in the Somali capital this year when he tried to kill Mogadishu's security chief near the presidential palace, police and rebels said.

Al-Qaida-linked Islamist militant group al Shabaab said it carried out the attack along Maka al Mukarram road that runs between the palace and the national theater, a route lined by tearooms that were engulfed in fire from the blast.

A public minibus driving along the road burst into flames, when the suicide bomber set off explosives packed into his car in an attempt to kill Khalif Ahmed Ilig, the Mogadishu security chief, police and the rebels said.

Ambulance sirens wailed through the city's congested streets with pools of blood on the ground. Residents joined in the rescue operations, pulling victims from the tea-houses and the minibus.

Police said seven civilians, three government security officers, and the bomber died in the blast that brought part of the city to a standstill. At least seven others were injured.

"The suicide car bomber targeted a senior national security officer whose car was passing near the theater," senior police officer Abdiqadir Mohamud said, adding that the official had been injured.

"Most of the people who died were on board the minibus - civilians. This public vehicle coincidentally came between the government car and the car bomb when it was hit. Littered at the scene are human hands and flesh."

The explosion could be heard several kilometers away in Mogadishu's central business district. Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, elected last year in the country's first national vote since dictator Siad Barre's overthrow in 1991, was in another part of the city during the blast, police said. The presidential palace stands about 100 meters from where the explosion struck.

Civil war followed the fall of Barre, which left Somalia without effective central government and awash with weapons, ushering in two decades of turmoil.

The attack yesterday was the worst so far this year, police said, a stark reminder of two decades of civil strife, in a war-torn country where the central government depends heavily on a 17,600-strong African Union peacekeeping force for its survival.

Under the Radar - 4: More Al-Qaeda/ U.S. links, more drones and a "new" New World Order

Source : Voice of Russia

According to some reports Al-Qaeda is not only working with the United States but assisting in carrying out attacks to blame and frame other entities that the West wants to target. The entire War on Terror is a pretext to invade for resources and advance geopolitical goals. Meanwhile while the U.S. is assassinating people worldwide with drones, they are also expanding their usage with the U.S. All of these events are currently taking place "Under the Radar".

Every week hundreds of important events occur that are important to all of us but which do not get enough media attention, either because they are over-shadowed by other major news or because they do not fit the pre-planned message that many of the world's media are trying to promote, there is a journalistic responsibility to tell the whole story which we always attempt to do. Although we keep our eyes on the world this week's most pressing issues that have been suppressed come from the US.

1. Bulgaria

Last summer’s terrorist bombing of a bus full of tourists was immediately attributed to being carrying out by Hezbollah, however now there is evidence that the attack was actually carried out by Al- Qaeda, an organization with a history of attacks on Israeli civilian targets, and the Hezbollah connection may have been stated under pressure by Israel and the United States.

IPS NEWS

“Bulgarian Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov’s dramatic announcement Tuesday on the Bulgarian investigation of the July 2012 terror bombing of an Israeli tourist bus was initially reported by Western news media as suggesting clear evidence of Hezbollah’s responsibility for the killings.”

“But more accurate reports on the minister’s statement and the only details he provided reveal that the alleged link between the bomb suspects and Hezbollah was merely an “assumption” rather than a conclusion based on specific evidence.”

2. Germany

According to a report by the website Phantom News a former member of the German Parliament has exposed the West’s Alliance with al-Qaeda. The report is one of hundreds that have appeared in the last few years connecting U.S. Government activities to those Al-Qaeda adding to the almost universally known fact that Al- Qaeda and the U.S. are working hand in hand, just as they did from the start in Afghanistan. This article lays out some of the reasons for supposed “War on Terror” operations worldwide.

Phantom Report

“The Syrian rebels receive money and weapons predominantly from Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Saudi Arabia is mainly supplying Al Qaeda, with the U.S.A. knowing about it. The West is providing political cover for the entire rebellion, including al-Qaeda. It is de facto an ally of al-Qaeda. In Mali against, in Syria for al-Qaeda—it can’t be more cynical.”

“Whenever the western war on terror leads or calls, it’s about completely different things. In Afghanistan, the central geostrategic position in Asia, in Iraq for oil, in conflict with the alleged nuclear addicted “terrorist state” Iran for dominance in the Middle East and Mali to uranium in neighboring Niger.”

3. World

Apparently the New World Order has nothing to do with nation states but everything to do with bankers and money and according to this report the West and all its war and violence are nothing but killing for the sake of killing. Judging from the current economic state of the West, this may be completely and totally true.

“The real new world order has emerged–the world’s downtrodden against the West and its puppet, surrogate colonial governments. These non-state but similarly minded actors will determine the course of future world history. There is now a new world order that the West cannot control, that military force cannot subdue, and that concessions cannot placate. Ancien régimes relied on military power to influence events. The true new world order renders military power effete. All it can now accomplish is kill for killing’s sake. Pure barbarity is what the promise of Western Civilization has been reduced to. What a wonderful world we have made!”

4. China

It may be propaganda being used to advance an agenda or it may be that China is preparing for a military confrontation with Japan over territory that is rightfully China’s but which Japan, desperate for territory, has claimed as its own.

Zero Hedge

“If that is indeed the case, and its story of major troop movements and mobilization of various types of military vehicles and artillery into the Fujian and Zhejian provinces, bordering the East China Sea and closest to the Diaoyu islands, is accurate, then hostilities between China and Japan may be about to take a major turn for the worse.”

5. United States

U.S. drone usage is spreading worldwide but it is also spreading within the United States itself, with everything from mining companies to universities being licensed to operate drones. Will Americans tolerate yet another tool to strip them of their “freedoms”? Most likely, in the name of security, the answer to that question is yes.

Electronic Frontier Foundation

“The Federal Aviation Administration has finally released a new drone authorization list. This list, released in response to EFF’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, includes law enforcement agencies and universities across the country, and— for the first time—an Indian tribal agency. In all, the list includes more than 20 new entities over the FAA’s original list, bringing to 81 the total number of public entities that have applied for FAA drone authorizations through October 2012.”