By Faysal Gabanow
Baladwein, Somalia- Somalia is destined to further escalations of violence as the country’s Security Minister, Omar Hashi Aden and former ambassador to the African Union (AU) and Ethiopia Abdikarin Farah laqanyo were yesterday assassinated in a suicide bombing that targeted a hotel where the two officials had been staying.

The attack on Medina hotel, in Baladwein, 400Km North of Mogadishu, which also killed 20 others was later claimed by the Al shabaab militants fighting the moderate Islamist led government.

Somalia’s beleaguered president, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, has blamed the attack on Al qaeda in a press conference he held in his Palace in Mogadishu.

“Al qaeda was behind the attack” President Ahmed said. “Foreign fighters are streaming into Somalia everyday and want to turn the country into Al qaeda safe-haven” he added. He claimed victory over Islamist insurgents during the recent clashes in Mogadishu.

Asked about the UN Security Council’s expansion of AMISOM mandate, the president said “the presence of the African Union Peacekeepers is crucial for the [existence of] transitional government of Somalia”.

The two slain government officials were at the center of government plan of cracking down the Islamists who has seen an expansion in the central regions including Hiraan region where both officials descend from. The two officials recently led Somali militias trained in Ethiopia into the region, where Ethiopian incursions have been reported in the past months.

The minister, a former military colonel, had opposed the Ethiopian invasion of Somalia in 2006 and sought asylum in Eritrea during the two year-long street battle between Somali and Ethiopian troops and Islamist insurgents. He was later name appointed as security minister after the moderate-Islamist leader; Sheikh Sheikh Ahmed, the chairman of the “Alliance of the Re-liberation of Somalia”- which the security minister belonged to- joined the Transitional Federal Government in UN- backed power sharing.

President Ahmed succeeded former president Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, who resigned last year after he was considered as an obstacle to peace because of his opposition to strike a deal with Islamist opposition deemed as moderates by Washington and Addis Ababa.

Ambassador Abdikarim Farah was appointed as Somali Ambassador to Ethiopia and the African Union in 2005 before he was succeeded in 2007 by incumbent Ambassador Said Yusuf  Nur. He was then appointed as an ambassador to South Africa by former president Abdullahi Yusuf but didn’t take office.

Ahmed’s government has received support from the Muslim countries, including Turkey and Arab League. But that didn’t help to appease the Islamist insurgents opposing the presence of foreign troops in Somalia, including the African Union peacekeepers, which their presence is vital to President Ahmed’s grip on power.

Last month, violence has escalated in Mogadishu after two Islamists groups, Hizbul Islam and Al shabab joined forces to fight the interim government taking over most of the capital. But after weeks, government troops in line with tribal militias loyal to the president regained control defeating the Islamist insurgents.  In the last three days, sporadic clashes have continued in some parts of the capital killing several people. On Wednesday, 10 civilians were killed after mortar fired hit a mosque.

The government is in military capacity building, importing weapons including tanks after the arm’s embargo had been lifted and would use force to crackdown Islamist insurgents according to government officials. But the assassination of the security minister comes as a major blow to the government and the international community.