ISLAMISTS CLAIM ATTACK ON ETHIOPIANS

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Islamists claim attack on Ethiopians in Somalia-Web



DUBAI, 20 April 2007 (Reuters) -- A little known Islamist group on Friday claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing on an Ethiopian military base in Somalia, and said it used chemicals in the attack, according to an Internet statement.

The group, calling itself the Young Mujahideen Movement in Somalia, said one of its most prominent members, Abdul-Aziz Dawood Abdul-Qader, carried out Thursday's bombing.

The attack came amid intense fighting between Ethiopian forces and Somali insurgents that killed at least 12 civilians.

"By God's grace, a qualitative martyrdom operation was carried out at the western entrance to the capital Mogadishu in which chemical materials were used," the Arabic-language statement said.

It was not possible to verify the authenticity of the statement, which was posted on a Web site used by Islamists.

Experts say the Young Mujahideen Movement has claimed responsibility for several attacks on Ethiopian troops since they routed the forces of the Somalia Council of Islamic Courts in an offensive over the New Year.

Islamist sources and witnesses in Mogadishu said on Thursday that the suicide attacker drove a 4x4 truck through the gates of the Ethiopian base in Mogadishu before detonating explosives which set off secondary blasts from munitions nearby.

Suicide attacks were unheard of in Somalia, whose people are mainly moderate Muslims, until last year when the Islamist movement took over most of the south and isolated the government in the provincial town of Baidoa.

But there have now been a string of such attacks both in Baidoa and Mogadishu. Critics including the United States say the Islamists are closely linked to al Qaeda