Somali president escape another attack

Published on Wednesday 18th June 2008

Somalia: Somalia's transitional President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed has come under insurgent attacks, as he arrived in Mogadishu after a visit to Kenya on Wednesday.

Insurgents rocked the capital Mogadishu with two heavy mortar attacks, as the president arrived in Adan Adde International Airport.

The first attack happened near the airport, where at least 16 Somali soldiers and an army commander, guarding the president, were killed.

The second attack took place just outside Waberi district, and left more that 6 other soldiers killed. The president remained unharmed in both attacks, Press TV report.

The exchange of fire between the insurgents and troops guarding the president also took the life of several civilians in the district.

No one has claimed the responsibility for the attacks.

Wednesday's mortar attack was one of the several assassination attempts on Ahmed. The president survived a mortar attack on his plane last week, when he was leaving for Kenya, and a car bombing in September 2006 outside Somalia's parliament in Baidoa that killed at least eight others.

Somalia has been mired in chaos since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and sparked brutal clan infighting. Somalia's current transitional government is trying to maintain control of the capital, with the help of the better-equipped Ethiopian forces.