Egypt – At least 35 Egyptian police officers have been killed in an ambush by Islamist fighters near the Bahariya oasis in the country's Western Desert, security and medical sources said on the 21 Oct 17 in a rare flare-up outside the Sinai Peninsula. The interior ministry said security forces hunting down Islamist militants in the region were attacked late on the 20 Oct 17 on a road to the Bahariya oasis, some 200 kilometres (125 miles) southwest of Cairo. An official statement said a number of the attackers were killed, but did not give any figures for losses on either side. According to a source close to the security services, the convoy was hit by rocket fire. The attackers also used explosive devices. There has not yet been a claim of responsibility. A fake claim in the name of the small extremist group Hasm, reported by multiple local media, spread on social media soon after the attack. Since the army removed President Mohamed Morsi, of the Muslim Brotherhood, extremist groups have increased their attacks on the military and police. In response to the latest bloodshed Egyptian security forces appeared to step up their operations in the area of the attack.
Somalia/al-Shabaab – Somalia's president has blamed al-Shabaab for the countries deadliest attack, in which more than 300 people were killed. Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo said that the armed group's "fingerprints" could be found over the 14 Oct 17 blast in the capital, Mogadishu, explaining that al-Shabaab had a history of similar attacks. "This is their fingerprints, this is what they have done," Farmajo said, before calling on the international community to help combat the group. Al-Shabab has a strong presence in the south of the country. "If they succeed here, they'll [find it] easier to promote their crazy ideology and their political ideology to the youth in the United States and Europe," he added. Al-Shabaab had not claimed responsibility for the 14 Oct 17 blast but the Somali leader had no doubt it was responsible. "I thought they would claim, but maybe they feel that this is a huge responsibility," Farmajo explained, referring to the scale of the atrocity. The Somali president's comments come as emergency workers continue to comb the rubble looking for the remains of those who died, with officials warning that some bodies might never be found. Al Jazeera's Mohammed Adow, reporting from Mogadishu, said investigators were trying to find out where the attackers procured the military grade explosives believed to have been used in the attack. "Another focus, officials say, is whether al-Shabaab had help from within the security forces," he said. The Somali government has been fighting al-Shabaab for the best part of a decade and expelled the fighters from Mogadishu in 2011 with help from African Union soldiers. 361 COMMENT: Possibly al-Shabaab have not claimed the terrorist attack for fear it may do their own image some damage after targeting and murdering so many innocent Somalia’s. Most terrorist groups when claiming an attack will attempt to gauge the population’s feelings prior to a claim especially one of this magnitude. If the feeling among the supporters is bad due to the death toll or who was targeted then some terrorist groups remain silent. It could be in this occasion that they have gone too far and the grass root supporters are or were asking why so many innocent Somalia people were killed? Why were government forces not targeted and murdered on the same scale? It is clear that the Somalia government are not able to counter the al-Shabaab threat on its own and is desperate for international cooperation in defeating al-Shabaab which is bringing a huge instability to the country and is probably stopping much needed investment in to the country. If this incident happened anywhere else in the world such as London, Germany, Paris or the United States the international press would have been all over the story. Al-Shabaab is one of the greatest terrorist threats to Africa and yet the international press do nothing about it. On the 20 Oct 17 it was reported that the truck bomb in the capital Mogadishu, has now killed 358 people with 228 more injured, the government said, a major jump in the fatality toll. Double standards by the press? COMMENT ENDS
Somalia/al-Shabaab – Somalia's president has blamed al-Shabaab for the countries deadliest attack, in which more than 300 people were killed. Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo said that the armed group's "fingerprints" could be found over the 14 Oct 17 blast in the capital, Mogadishu, explaining that al-Shabaab had a history of similar attacks. "This is their fingerprints, this is what they have done," Farmajo said, before calling on the international community to help combat the group. Al-Shabab has a strong presence in the south of the country. "If they succeed here, they'll [find it] easier to promote their crazy ideology and their political ideology to the youth in the United States and Europe," he added. Al-Shabaab had not claimed responsibility for the 14 Oct 17 blast but the Somali leader had no doubt it was responsible. "I thought they would claim, but maybe they feel that this is a huge responsibility," Farmajo explained, referring to the scale of the atrocity. The Somali president's comments come as emergency workers continue to comb the rubble looking for the remains of those who died, with officials warning that some bodies might never be found. Al Jazeera's Mohammed Adow, reporting from Mogadishu, said investigators were trying to find out where the attackers procured the military grade explosives believed to have been used in the attack. "Another focus, officials say, is whether al-Shabaab had help from within the security forces," he said. The Somali government has been fighting al-Shabaab for the best part of a decade and expelled the fighters from Mogadishu in 2011 with help from African Union soldiers. 361 COMMENT: Possibly al-Shabaab have not claimed the terrorist attack for fear it may do their own image some damage after targeting and murdering so many innocent Somalia’s. Most terrorist groups when claiming an attack will attempt to gauge the population’s feelings prior to a claim especially one of this magnitude. If the feeling among the supporters is bad due to the death toll or who was targeted then some terrorist groups remain silent. It could be in this occasion that they have gone too far and the grass root supporters are or were asking why so many innocent Somalia people were killed? Why were government forces not targeted and murdered on the same scale? It is clear that the Somalia government are not able to counter the al-Shabaab threat on its own and is desperate for international cooperation in defeating al-Shabaab which is bringing a huge instability to the country and is probably stopping much needed investment in to the country. If this incident happened anywhere else in the world such as London, Germany, Paris or the United States the international press would have been all over the story. Al-Shabaab is one of the greatest terrorist threats to Africa and yet the international press do nothing about it. On the 20 Oct 17 it was reported that the truck bomb in the capital Mogadishu, has now killed 358 people with 228 more injured, the government said, a major jump in the fatality toll. Double standards by the press? COMMENT ENDS
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