Cops foil attack on Islamic cleric
2010-01-10 09:53
Mogadishu - Police in northern Somalia's breakaway region of Somaliland said they foiled an attack to assassinate a renowned Islamic cleric who is a critic of hardline Islamists' suicide tactics, officials and witnesses said Saturday.
Residents spotted two men trying to plant explosives close to the mosques in Hargeisa late on Saturday and reported them to the police who arrested one of the suspects later on while the other escaped.
The attack aimed to get rid of the cleric was foiled by ordinary residents with the help of the police, Ibrahim Kodbur, a senior police officer, said adding that a woman caught one of the two men as he was hiding the explosives near the mosque and shouted out.
The police seized several rounds of mortar shells and two rocket grenades the suspects were trying to use to blow up the mosque, Mohamed Saleban, another police officer, said by telephone.
The woman thought the man was hiding something he stole from the mosque but instead revealed a serious assassination attempt, Bare Abdulahi, a witness, said.
Witnesses said Sheik Ibrahim Siro who is the leader of the mosque was preaching against the ideas of the radical al-Qaeda-inspired Shebab group and the suicide tactics they use.