Puntland president escapes unhurt from assassination attempt

Monday’s ambush attack aimed to assassinate Deni was claimed by the al Qaeda-linked militant group al Shabaab through a statement posted on its online affiliated websites. It said several soldiers were killed.

News Keydmedia Online
21 February 2022

MOGADISHU, Somalia – The president of Somalia’s Puntland president Said Deni has narrowly escaped unhurt from an attack on his convoy on Monday outside the port city of Bossaso on the Gulf of Aden.

Monday’s ambush attack aimed to assassinate Deni was claimed by the al Qaeda-linked militant group al Shabaab through a statement posted on its online affiliated websites. It said several soldiers were killed.

Multiple sources told Keydmedia English that the regional President was approaching the port town when al Shabaab detonated a remote-controlled landmine at the military-escorting large convoy.

Local police office Capt. Mohamed Hussein confirmed the attack was an action planned beforehand and said Deni has arrived safely in the city. There was no immediate comment from the president’s office.

Al-Shabaab which has hideouts in nearby Galgala mountains said the bomb killed several soldiers and destroyed two armored vehicles from the motorcade that was under escort by Puntland state troops.

Bossaso has been an intense situation since the dismissal of Puntland Security Force [PSF] director General Mohamud Osman Diyano by Deni that led to three-day clashes between forces within the state army.

Today’s attack underscores that the terror group took advantage of the standoff in Bossaso to carry out attacks targeting high-profile Puntland figures, including the president who survived today from the IED.

Puntland also faces a threat from the ISIS-linked faction founded in 2015 in Golis hills by Abdulkadir Mumin, a Somali-British jihadist who defected from Al-Shabaab after a fallout with slain leader Ahmed Godane.

KEYDMEDIA English