MOGADISHU (AFP)
Thousands of Somalis took to the streets Sunday to protest a U.S. bombing that killed an alleged al-Qaeda chief and 11 other people, claiming it was a poisonous bomb.
The protest took place at Dhusamareb, a trading post of about 100,000 people, 400 kilometers (250 miles) north of the capital Mogadishu, where Thursday's attack took place.
Abdirasak Moalim Ahmed, one of the organizers of the protest, said that in the days since the attack, people had been vomiting. "We believe the Americans used poisonous bombs," he said.
The U.S. air strike killed at least 12 people including Moalim Aden Hashi Ayro. The Somali government and western intelligence said was the leader of Al-Qaeda in the country.
Ayro in his early 30s, was military leader of the Shabab, a group on the U.S. government's terrorist list. Their leaders are believed to have trained and fought with Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network in Afghanistan.
The shattered African nation has been wracked by violence since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre led to a bloody power struggle that has defied numerous bids to restore normalcy. |
