Deadly Attack in Somalia Is Latest by al-Qaida Ally

(Aug. 24) -- The al-Qaida-linked Somalia force known as al-Shabab unleashed another deadly assault today amid a civil war that has claimed thousands of lives since 1991. This time the insurgents stormed a hotel frequented by legislators in Mogadishu, killing at least 32.

Six members of Parliament were among those who died in an ongoing battle for power that pits al-Shabab against a government struggling to hang on to just a tiny part of the capital.

"The blood of the dead is leaking out of the hotel," Information Minister Abdirahman Osman said. "They have no motive other than to terrorize the Somali people."

The aim of al-Shabab is to turn Somalia into a fundamentalist Islamic state.

In 2006 al-Shabab became part of a government, which included moderate Islamists, that controlled much of south-central Somalia. That lasted only six months, however, when U.S. and Ethiopian troops invaded to get rid of the militants, who resurfaced as a strong guerrilla force.

Security forces and civilians were among those who died in today's attack, according to several media reports, with al-Shabab claiming it acted against those "aiding the infidels." The attack on the Muna hotel ended only when the insurgents killed themselves, The New York Times reported.

The reference to "infidels" was to the arrival Monday of hundreds of new peacekeeping forces sent in to Mogadishu by the African Union to support the internationally recognized transitional government, which in reality controls only a few blocks of the capital between the presidential palace and the Indian Ocean.

The peacekeepers, however, have in many ways only added to the violence, with 40 people reported killed on Monday as insurgents launched attacks against the African Union troops across the capital. Local people are also often inadvertently killed as al-Shabab battles the peacekeepers, often through the use of suicide bombers, and the peacekeepers return fire.

In a December attack near the site of today's assault, a suicide bomber blew himself up at a university graduation ceremony, killing 24 people, The Associated Press reported. Last month al-Shabab claimed responsibility for dual attacks in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, that killed 76 people watching the World Cup final on television.

Somalia has been without an effective government since 1991, when the government was overthrown by tribal militias that later began fighting each other. Today's moderate Islamist government is headed by Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, who became president in February 2009.

Along with the deaths and destruction on land, another result of the insurgency has been the growing problem of piracy, with up to five gangs armed with rocket-propelled grenade launchers and other weapons holding international ships for ransom off the Horn of Africa.

More than 21,000 Somalis have died in the insurgency, Reuters reported, with 1.5 million displaced from their homes and about a half-million seeking shelter in other countries.