Aweys O.
Yusuf
Mogadishu
Somalia
transitional
federal
government
rebuffed
accusations
that it
was
behind
the bomb
attack
of
former
Somalia
Defense
Minister,
Barre
Aden
Hirale,
who was
wounded
in the
roadside
bomb
explosion
in
Bardhere,
southern
Somalia,
on
Wednesday.
Abdi
Haji
Goobdoon,
the
T.F.G.
spokesman,
said it
was
shock
that the
former
minister
blames
the
president
and the
prime
minister
for the
incident.
"He must
apologize
to the
government's
top
officials
for the
wrong
remarks.
Somalia
president
Abdulahi
Yusuf
and
Premier
Gedi are
not
assassins,
and
actually
Somalia's
transitional
federal
government
has only
one
enemy,"
he told
Shabelle
by the
phone on
Wednesday
hours
after
the
Hirale
was
wounded
and his
driver
was
killed
in the
roadside
bomb
explosion
and
blamed
the
officials.
Hirale,
who was
interviewed
by
Shabelle
yesterday
after
the
blast,
said the
president
and his
prime
minister
were
behind
the
assassination
attempt.
"Abdulahi
Yusuf
and Gedi
were
responsible
for the
plot.
These
two men
have
been
planning
to get
rid of
me
lately
because
they
believe
that I
am
involved
in
Kismayu
conflict
and that
I
instigated
the
tribal
fighting,"
he said.
More
than 20
were
killed
and over
40 were
wounded
in the
Marehan
and
Majecteen
clan
fighting
in the
port
town of
Kismayu,
500 KM
south of
Mogadishu,
the
Somalia
capital,
on June
22.
Hirale
hails
from
Merahan
while
Somalia
president
Yusuf is
from
Majecteen
clan.
Both
clans
have
been
confronting
on the
management
of
Kismayu
since
the
T.F.G.
seized
the town
late
last
year.