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hollywod stuff. it looks like they been watching too many movies latelyThe voice of Major Barigye Ba-Huko, the African Union spokesman in Somalia, hit the airwaves yesterday evening. Denouncing the attempts by Al-Shabab to overthrow the Somali government along with the AU troops as a mere ‘dream,’ Major Ba-Huko challenged the Islamists fighters to be braver and take on his well-trained soldiers.
‘Let them come and fight us. They know we are at the airport and I challenge them to come there instead of hiding inside the residential areas.’
Not more than 48 hours had passed when Ba-Huko’s imprudent dare turned into a grim reality. Al-Shabab has, a few hours ago, carried out another daring attack on the Somali government and the African Union troops stationed at the airport. Two cars, tailing one another and loaded with explosives and armed fighters, infiltrated the government-controlled territory and quietly made their way to Adan Adde International airport, passing by dozens of government bases and hundreds of armed soldiers along the way. They carried neither passports nor tickets and boarding passes; what they carried, however, was a firm conviction in their breasts that, after their operation, they would die as ‘glorious Martyrs.’
On reaching the airport, the first car forcefully rammed its way through the gates and detonated its load inside the airport. Amid the chaos and confusion, the second car, which was carrying heavily armed Al-Shabab fighters, stormed the airport compound and attacked the large presence of government soldiers and Amisom troops guarding the airport. The fighters seized complete control of the airport and, in a manner similar to the Muna Hotel attack a few weeks ago, the fighters conducted a room to room search and killed dozens of troops. After a battle that took more than two hours, things appear to be slightly calmer now.
The exact figure of the dead is not yet known but the radio stations are reporting that dozens of Amisom troops, government officials and civil servants were killed on the site. News is also circulating that Sheikh Sharif and Augustine P. Mahiga, the UN Special Representative to Somalia, have narrowly escaped the raid and took off shortly before the Islamists briefly took control of the airport. The entire city is in a confused state and a heavy battle has just begun in the North of the city