[Al Arabiya Latest] Officials in lawless northern Somalia traded accusations on Thursday a day after masked gunmen massacred seven Pakistani preachers at a mosque.
The sheikhs were killed in Galkayo, a town on the southern edge of the semi-autonomous northern Puntland region. Violence is increasing in the area, which had been relatively more peaceful than the rest of the failed Horn of Africa state.
Western security agencies say Somalia has become a haven for militant plotting attacks in the region and beyond.
" When the Pakistanis landed in Puntland their passports were taken by the authorities and they were settled in a mosque ... the Puntland president has imposed a night curfew in the north of Galkayo. His forces must have killed them "
Galmudug official Mohammed Warsame |
The president of Puntland, Abdirahman Mohammed Farole, accused officials in Galmudug, which covers the southern part of the town, of ordering Wednesday's shooting. "The administration of southern Galkayo was behind the killing of the Pakistani preachers," Farole told reporters. "They are causing chaos in our region."
But a senior Galmudug official, Mohammed Warsame, denied it. "Puntland is definitely behind the killings," Warsame said. "When the Pakistanis landed in Puntland their passports were taken by the authorities and they were settled in a mosque ... the Puntland president has imposed a night curfew in the north of Galkayo. His forces must have killed them," he said.
"Tragic incident"
The group of about 25 sheikhs had arrived in Puntland on Tuesday. Local officials said they were mostly from Karachi.
| Twenty-five? That's practically an invasion! |
It remained far from clear why they were murdered. Some residents said they may have been suspected of al-Qaeda links, while others rejected that and said the clerics were from South Asia's apolitical Tablighi Jamaat religious movement.
Ummm... They're al-Qaeda recruiters...
| Apolitical in a jihadi sort of way, then? Not for any party, just the Caliphate, y'know. |
The Pakistani government said Somali Foreign Minister Mohammed Abdullahi Omar expressed condolences over the "tragic incident" in a telephone call to Pakistani Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Malik Amad Khan. "He assured ... that the government of Somalia was doing its utmost to apprehend the culprits," the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said in a statement, referring to the Somali minister.
At least six people were killed in Mogadishu on Wednesday when two supposedly pro-government factions exchanged artillery and anti-aircraft fire across the city's strategic K4 junction. |