The Bomber is alive and laughing at us: - Shamo carnage revisited.The Author is a political analyst based in London

As the dust settled and the emotions subsided the Somalis as well the other concerned people are out there to peace together the information that is coming out from different sources in their quest to get the real picture of how this horrendous action took place and who is to blame for the atrocity which shocked the nation and rocked further the security concerns of the already suspicious countries in the neighbourhood. The international as well as the local media is inundated with the scary news that a young Danish citizen of Somali origin disguised as a woman blew himself up and took with him so many innocent lives – parents, doctors, teachers, politicians and some friends and acquaintances of the graduates. The unprecedented carnage at the graduation ceremony in Hotel Shamo is captured by a recently released Somali song “ Qaylodhaan” written by Abdi Shire Jamac.
The Transitional Federal Government (TFG) broke the news to the world that a Danish youngster was behind the bombing of the hotel and since then the government went mute. The government did not produce any significant evidence to support its claim other then a picture of what appears as one of the casualties that was martyred as a consequence of the savage bombing. There were many pictures depicting the barbarity of the slaughter and the scale of the devastation was beyond description. Some of the bodies were completely shattered, others cut into half and some lost body parts.
The news so far collected from independent sources is in stark contrast to the claim of the government. Pictures rolled out of from some of the survived cameras and published on the net and the witness statements from the survivors including Dr. Dufle who was at the podium at the time of the explosion paints completely a different scenario. The pictures taken just before the bomb went off shows the Danish youth sitting among the guest of honour dressed casually in black striped summer T shirt neither in black Burkah nor wearing anything that can conceal a suicide bomber’s vest.
We may not find the truth and the full truth for some time but one thing is certain – security lapse from the TFG side and false accusation of a dead man. It is not possible that the alleged bomber went out and came back disguised as women unless the congregation were all blind and dumb. It is also equally incomprehensible that no one saw the bomber in action as it is very unlikely to miss a person who is blowing out himself in front of every one. The information so far in hand only points to one cause – a planted bomb detonated by remote control.
In late May when the Colonel Hashi, the security minister, was killed by a suicide bomber the TFG claimed that the bomber was a foreign person but to their embarrassment the bomber turned out to be a local Somali man. The TFG claimed countless times that they captured foreign fighters but not a single one materialised. In the summer they claimed that they have killed a foreign fighter in one of their battles with the Islamists but it latter turned out to be false too – the guy was a Somali of reer Hamar descent.
The TFG at all times gives out contradictory information which is as flimsy as itself and as such has created overtime a reputation of untrustworthiness as a source but what annoys every one is how it pulled wool over our eyes. The Danish man seems to me as a casualty of miscarriage of justice and I demand the TFG to prove his misdeeds or else to pay compensation to his family and retract this premature statement which amounts to defamation of character.
New Pictures challenges the TFG Version.
The Bomb went off some time after the commencement of the ceremony. Some of the activities were- a film showing the history of Benadir University, its faculties and their respective deans which received a standing ovation from the graduates and the other guests. There were many speakers of which the noted one was the speech delivered by the rector of Banadir university followed by troops of young singers who were decorated and trained to capture the day. There was a session of drinks and snacks which only professor Addow declined to participate as he was observing fasting at the day. People were coming in and out of the venue and a lot of reporters and camera men where at the scene which I hope will shed more light in to the situation in the hall before the bomb was detonated.
The news that a suicide bomber disguised as women in black Burkah was to blame; was aired by the TFG who are known to have maintained a track record of disinformation and misrepresentation and in the confusion at the time it went by although the picture they made available didn’t show any veil or Burkah but a young man in a striped shirt which raised the eye brows of those who know the trade.
It takes weeks or some times more for the American Government, with all its facilities and specialities at its disposal, to identify a culprit or a cause of casualty but half a day is more then enough for the unsighted to identify the alleged bomber. The American forces after they captured President Sadam Hussein didn’t release any information until they identified and established through DNA and other tests that he is really the president of Iraq but not a look alike.
As you can see from the picture that the guy who is supposed to be the bomber looks cool and relaxed at the front row which is reserved for the guests of honour. He also appears little sleepy or bored which is not the type of emotions one should rationally expect from a person who is sure to die in 20 minutes. He is wearing a thin sort of a casual black stripe shirt which is the same shirt his body was found in after the explosion. No suicide bombers’ vests or a veil was recovered from the scene and no one of the multitude of survivals so far attested to have seen the alleged women in black and even Dr. Dufle who was at the podium, which gives a full view of the venue, failed to conclusively point out whether it was a planted bomb or a suicide bomber - listen this Dr. Dufle’s witness statement. The Danish intelligence is still investigating the allegation made against their citizen but said to have already scrapped the TFG’s version as it can’t hold water.
The information from the alleged bomber’s father, a graduate from the Somali National University’s faculty of agriculture, and that of the hotel staffs are the only palatable information so far in the public domain. It is confirmed from different and independent sources that his wife was about to deliver a baby in Marka, that he was a guest at hotel Shamo and the picture demonstrates beyond any doubt that he was invited by a friend as his father was claiming repeatedly.
It was common knowledge that the alleged bomber’s body, Mr. Abdirahman, lay unclaimed for nearly a day as he was an unknown man in Mogadishu which also indicates that his friends to have died too in the explosion as claimed by his family. It is also known that the Hotel Staff, not the security people, identified him as a guest from Qoryooley which is near Marka Town. The fallen man at the wrong place is transformed in to the ultimate suicide bomber – hate figure of the century with out taking stock of the situation. A dead man without relatives around is an opportunity the TFG media vultures can hardly miss to take advantage of. Please do listen to Character reference of Mr. Abdirahman on a Radio based in Denmark made by the community leader of the Somalis in Copenhagen - Denmark.
Who was the real bomber? We will never know.
The fact that Mogadishu is the home of assassinations and the base of multitude of fronts fighting proxy wars with regional and international dimensions coupled by the total absence of government makes impossible to get a stout verdict which can withstand the test of the normal people.
The Al Shabab group who introduced suicide bombing to Somalia and who had never shied from claiming most of the previous suicide attacks disowned any connection to this operation and the TFG which is famous of being too economic in the truth also denied its involvement. Al Shabab was pointing its finger at no one other then General Abdi Qaydiid who they maintained was behind the bombing for his own personal benefits. The general has a very ugly résumé and his hands are immersed deep in to the blood of his foes and friends but suicide bombing and planting of bombs can’t fit comfortably in to his mode operands. The general is very selective in his trade and hunts down only the elite, who mostly hail from his tribe, that he suspects might in the long run turn to threaten or challenge his position.
In the aftermath of the bombing we see that the General was given a Ministerial post, Minister of minerals and water, to fill the post sadly vacated by professor Addow- the man of the people. The infamous 4.5 formula around which the TFG is shaped regrettably lumps the disreputable warlord Gen. Abdi Qaydid and the man of the people, Professor Addow, together in the same box. This golden hand shake has nothing to do with the bombing but is an opening that the General took with both hands.
Who ever executed this operation must have planted the bomb inside the premises preferably hidden in a disguised form under the tables set aside to accommodate TFG Ministers and officials or amalgamated in to the decorations of the hall. It is very likely that the operative detonated the bomb by remote control while he/she was sitting in the back rows or adjacent room to the hall where he/she can monitor with confidence the movement and seating of the participants – the rector was in one of those adjacent rooms with a report at the time the bomb went off.
It was a premeditated mass murder inflicted on the Somalis where it hurts most but can any one say who was behind it? The Al Shabab, Hisbi Al-Islam, Ahlu Sunna wal Jama, the TFG, Ethiopian intelligence operatives, CIA operatives, Israeli hounds and Iranian sympathisers to mention a few who have factions within factions to such a degree that the left of the faction doesn’t know what the right of the same faction is up to.
In conclusion I say; not everyone at whom dogs bark at is a thief – we have only a word of mouth from one faction against the word from another faction with no material substance. The majority of the people are beginning to doubt the TFG’s version that the bomber is dead, and do think that the bomber is alive and laughing at us but only God knows who the real culprit is this time.
Abdikarim Haji Abdi Buh
Email: Abdikarimbuh@yahoo.com
WardheerNews.com Contributor