Mogadishu - A former Somali MP who joined the al-Shabaab group in
2010 was one of two suicide bombers who killed 13 people near a United Nations
and African Union base, the militants
announced on Wednesday.
Car
bombs driven by suicide attackers exploded on Tuesday morning near Mogadishu's
airport. One of them went off 200 metres from the base, killing mainly security
staff.
Salah
Badbado, 53, served in Somalia's parliament from 2004 until 2010, when he declared
at a press conference he was leaving politics to join the Somali al-Qaeda
affiliate.
"Salah
Nuh Ismail known as Salah Badbado was
among the braves who have carried out the attack on Halane military base,"
the group said in a statement released on
the Telegram app and their Andalus radio station.
"He
was a former lawmaker but he has repented from the apostasy in the year 2010
when he publicly announced defecting from the apostates," al-Shabaab
statement said.
The
attack was condemned by the African Union and the United Nations, which said
that none of its personnel were among the confirmed dead.
The
group's radio station released an audio message purportedly recorded a few
hours before the former MP carried out the attack, in which he is heard
announcing an imminent suicide strike.
"This
suicide task we are going to is for the sake of Allah and it is a religious
duty. We have chosen to please Allah and to harm the infidels more than they
have harmed the Muslim nation," the former MP said in the audio message.
Somali
security officials were yet to confirm the bomber's identity early on
Wednesday.
Al-Shabaab is blamed for a string of bloody assaults in Somalia and
neighbouring Kenya, and is fighting to overthrow Mogadishu's
internationally-backed government.
Its
fighters were forced out of the capital five years ago but continue to carry
out regular attacks on military, government and civilian targets.
