At least seven people have been killed by a massive car bomb blast at a restaurant in Somalia’s capital, like reported by breakingnews.ie.

There are fears that al-Shabab extremists, who have vowed to destabilise the country’s new government, are behind the blast.

Several others were injured in the blast near the ministries of internal security and youth and sports in Mogadishu, Colonel Ahmed Hashi said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast.

However, the al Qaida-linked Islamic extremist group al-Shabab group often carries out such attacks.

The powerful blast largely destroyed the restaurant. Police pulled the body of a man from the rubble and said there may be more. Soldiers pushed back a surging crowd and fired in the air to disperse people.

The extremists have been pushed out of the capital and other major urban areas in Somalia by national and African Union multinational forces, but they continue to carry out deadly bombings and attacks in Mogadishu and elsewhere.

Targets have included hotels, military checkpoints and the presidential palace.

Al-Shabab has denounced new Somali-American President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed as an “apostate” and warned Somalis against supporting him.

Al-Shabab was kicked out of Mogadishu under Mr Mohamed’s brief term as prime minister in 2010-2011.

Mr Mohamed, who was elected in February, has vowed to make security a priority in the long-chaotic nation where the fragile central government is trying to extend its control beyond selected areas, including the capital.

A team of UN experts has arrived in Nigeria to assess the number of  landmines  Boko Haram terrorists have laid in the Sambisa Forest, like reported by thebreakingtimes.com.

Ms Agnes Marcaillou, Director, UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS), said in New York that the team arrived the country on Tuesday.

According to her, the assessment is with a view to de-mining and clearing  the area  of landmines.

UNMAS collaborates with 11 other UN departments, agencies, programmes and funds to ensure effective, proactive and coordinated response to the problems of landmines and explosive remnants of war, including cluster munitions.

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, had on Sunday called for deliberate efforts to remove mines from the Sambisa forest  after the sack of the insurgents from the area.

Buratai said the effort required the assistance of the UN, Non-Governmental Organisations and development partners as the country could not do it alone.

Speaking on the UN response, Marcaillou said: “UNMAS has sent some people to Nigeria and they have arrived already today (Tuesday) to explore this matter further.

“I would say that the standard is that we need first and foremost, the involvement of the country in looking at the threat, it’s a partnership.

“The United Nations and UNMAS have no magic wand. We need to get an assessment of the problem together; UN brings the capacities of the UN and the government together.

“And then the Government of Nigeria will take the lead in mobilising the international community support.

“This is because everything that we will do together at one point or another in Nigeria will require funding to meet those needs.

“We need the concrete engagement of the government. We need to have evidence that the Government of Nigeria has put this question as a top priority on its agenda.’’

She, however,  pledged the commitment of the UN mine service to working  with the Federal Government to rid the conflict-prone areas of landmines.

“But right now, the positive side of the story is that we have responded to the call.

“And we have a number of people who have already arrived the country today (Tuesday) to discuss it further,” she said.

Presence of Islamist groups and recruitment of local residents has inflamed ethnic tensions

Islamist armed groups have killed dozens of people and displaced over 10,000 in central Mali since January, a prominent human rights group has said.

Insecurity in Mali is no longer confined to the north of the country, as jihadist groups have progressively increased their presence in central Mali over the past two years.

Their presence, execution of civilians and government officials and recruitment of local residents, has inflamed ethnic tensions among the Peuhl, Bambara, and Dogon ethnic groups, giving rise to often-abusive self-defence militias.

The killings, by Islamist armed groups, militias, and, to a lesser extent, government soldiers, have resulted in at least 52 deaths and the displacement of over 10,000 people, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).

“Violence since January fuelled by explosive ethnic tensions has swept across central Mali, leaving dozens dead,” said Corinne Dufka, associate Africa director at HRW.

In one instance, on 11 February, alleged Peuhl Islamist fighters killed a Bambara shopkeeper in Ke-Macina, in the Ségou Region, some 320km from the capital, Bamako. The killing sparked retaliatory attacks against Peuhl villagers, which left at least 21 people dead, including children. Dozens more civilians and armed group members were killed in tit-for-tat attacks.

Local residents described being terrified as large groups of armed men have been seen driving around on motorcycles and vehicles in their villages in central Mali.

While the Malian security forces have generally acted to quell the ethnic violence, they have also been accused of targeting and abusing communities in anti-terror operations. Eight suspected Islamists have been killed, and other forcibly disappeared since late December 2016.

‘There is no justice and the killings keep happening’

Dufka urged the Malian government to ramp up efforts to halt the violence “by vigorously prosecuting the killings” and stepping up patrols to protect vulnerable populations.

According to a Bambara leader, there have been no proper investigations into the abuses. “Since 2015, so many of our people have been gunned down in their farms, at home, or on their way to market. We have reported this to local and Bamako authorities, but what we hear are excuses for why they don’t investigate – the rain, the danger, insufficient vehicles. But in the end, there is no justice and the killings keep happening,” he said.

This was echoed by a Peuhl villager, who said that, to end the violence, “everyone must be treated with dignity; every killing must be investigated”. He warned: “If not, if the state doesn’t pay attention, people will continue to join the jihadists and their numbers and force will continue to grow.”

On March 2, the government announced the establishment of a 45-day commission of inquiry to investigate the violence in Ke-Macina. The government gave the commission, consisting of nine magistrates and 22 gendarmes, 45 days to submit a report.

HRW urged for the implementation of a longer-term commission, initiated by the Malian parliament, in order to address a broader range of issues. “The worsening violence in central Mali thrusts members of all ethnic groups into the dangerous cycle of violence and impunity,” Dufka said. “The Malian government and its allies need to confront this insecurity head on before more blood is shed. The Ke-Macina investigation is a very good place to start.”

Observers warn piracy is making a comeback along the coast of Somalia, after gunmen hijacked two ships in 48 hours and took them to an area known as a pirate haven, like reported by voanews.com .

On Monday, pirates hijacked a Pakistani boat, Salama 1, soon after seizing an Indian-owned boat, MSV Al Kausar.

The mayor of Hobyo, a town on the central Somali coast, tells VOA Somali the Al Kausar, with 11 crew members, is now anchored off the nearby village of El Hur. The Salama 1 was reportedly headed to the same area with an unknown number of crew.

Hobyo was a central base for Somali pirates who hijacked dozens of ships for ransom earlier this decade.

Mayor Abdillahi Ahmed Ali says his town has “rested” from piracy but now fears the hijackers have re-emerged to cause more problems.

“Piracy is back,” said Ali. “Things can’t be the same; we need to have consultations on how to confront it.”

The Salama 1 hijacking was the fourth piracy attack in three weeks. On March 13 pirates hijacked the Sri Lankan-flagged oil tanker Aris 13. It was taken to the coast of Alula town in Puntland but released three days later, after regional Somali forces threatened force. No ransom was paid although local officials said the pirates were given immunity from prosecution.

Then, on March 24, pirates seized the MV Casayr, a Somali fishing boat, to use as a “mother ship” to attack other ships at sea. Ten Yemeni crew aboard the boat were reportedly dumped on shore.

The former director of intelligence in Somalia’s Puntland region, Abdi Hassan Hussein, agrees piracy is re-emerging in the region. He says there are organized groups in advanced preparations to conduct attacks.

“There are more than eight groups who are want to engage piracy activities, some of them already went into the sea, some are in preparation and some have already carried out attacks,” Hussein told VOA Somali.

“It [piracy] may increase in the coming days if the Somali government and the international community fail to take action to prevent these incidents.”

Hussein believes Yemenis are involved in piracy, supplying the Somali pirates with logistics such as vessels, weapons, ammunition, GPS, fuel and engines. He said the Yemenis who are helping the Somali pirates are taking advantage of the chaos in their own country.

“The Yemenis are not the pirates but they are facilitating it, they are investors,” Hussein said.

Hijackings had disappeared

At their peak in the early 2010s, Somali pirate gangs were responsible for hundreds of attacks on commercial ships traveling in the Gulf of Aden, the western Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea.

According to annual reports compiled by the International Maritime Bureau, Somali pirates hijacked 49 ships in 2010 and took more than 1,000 crew members hostage. The pirates and their backers sometimes split windfalls of over $5 million for the release of a ship and its crew.

But Somali piracy virtually disappeared just three years later, after international navies began regular patrols of shipping lanes and ships took new security measures, in some cases carrying armed guards on board.

In all of 2016, the IMB recorded only two pirate attacks near Somalia, neither of which resulted in a hijacking.

So far, the pirates have not made any demands in regards to the two newly-captured ships. Both are believed to be commercial dhows that were carrying goods to Somalia.

Ali said local elders have opened talks with pirates on the Indian boat, and said he wants the Somali government and regional officials to help secure the release of the boat and crew.

“We will exercise whatever means possible to make sure to release those innocents being held by the pirates,” Ali said.

Somalia’s al Shabaab Islamist group has taken control of El Bur, a town in the Horn of Africa’s semi-autonomous region of Galmudug, after Ethiopian forces left, a government official has said to reuters.com.

Al Shabaab is seeking to drive the African Union-mandated peace keeping force, AMISOM, out of Somalia and topple the country’s Western-backed central government.

The Islamist militants also want to rule the country according to a harsh version of sharia, or Islamic law.

“Ethiopian troops left the town … thus al Shabaab captured it today,” Burhaan Warsame, Galmudug’s minister for ports and sea transport, told Reuters late on Monday.

Ethiopian forces, who are part of AMISOM alongside troops from Uganda, Kenya and other countries, had captured the town from al Shabaab in 2014, officials from the area said.

Most residents fled into nearby bushland with the arrival of Ethiopian forces in El Bur, and Warsame said the town was deserted when al Shabaab fighters entered.

Al Shabaab has been driven out of its strongholds in Somalia by AMISOM and Somali army offensives, although the group still controls some rural areas and often launches guerrilla-style assaults and frequent bomb attacks in the capital, Mogadishu.

Sheikh Hassan Yaqub, al Shabaab’s governor for Galmudug’s Galgadud region, where El Bur is located, confirmed the group had retaken the town.

“We captured it, there were no residents for over the three years Ethiopian troops controlled the town,” he said.

“We are sure residents will come back to the town.”

A merger of some of the most notorious groups based in Mali is the latest face of jihadism in the Sahel. Under the new banner of Jamâ’ah Nusrah al-Islâm wal-Muslimîn (Group for the support of Islam and Muslims), or JNIM, the group has claimed responsibility for several attacks carried out in Central Mali, the latest of which occurred on 29 March killing three Malian soldiers, like reported by dailymaverick.co.za.

These attacks took place a few weeks after the new alliance announced itself on 2 March. The JNIM is a merger of Ansar Dine, Katiba Macina, al-Mourabitoun and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). The new alliance is led by Iyad Ag Ghaly, who previously led Ansar Dine. Ag Ghaly renewed his allegiance to Abdelmalek Droukdel, emir of AQIM; Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda leader; and Taliban leader, Mullâ Hibatullâh.

A few days later, on 14 March, Droukdel endorsed the merger and called “all jihadist groups to follow the example… and to unite”, under the banner of al-Qaeda. On 19 March, al-Qaeda Central issued an official statement congratulating the new group.

Some analysts see the merger as a response to AQIM weakening amid the Islamic State’s (Isis’) growing influence in the region, while others believe it serves mostly to formalise the links and relationships that have existed between these groups for years.

The long-dreaded collaboration comes at the height of the Malian crisis; following on from the occupation of the north by AQIM, Ansar Dine, and the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa between April 2012 and January 2013.

To view the merger in the light of competition between Isis and al-Qaeda at the international level – and particularly in West Africa – wouldn’t be misplaced. Although AQIM continues to be a central player in regional jihad, its supremacy is disputed by small groups that claim to be from IS. These include the Islamic State in the Great Sahara (ISGS), led by Adnan Abou Walid al-Sahraoui, which is active in the Liptako-Gourma – a geographical area straddling the border areas of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

It was believed that setbacks for Isis in its strongholds in Syria, Iraq and Libya would have reduced its attraction. However, a recent report citing French military intelligence sources pointed to ongoing efforts by the ISGS and the Islamic State in West Africa – the Isis-endorsed Boko Haram branch – to deepen their relationship and extend the influence of IS to Mali and Burkina Faso. Such a strategy could indeed reduce AQIM’s influence.

Questions remain about how, precisely, this new alliance will affect the security situation. An evident concern is that by joining forces, these groups will have bolstered their cooperation, which could result in a tenfold increase of their activities. Groups like al-Mourabitoun, with more experience, could share their expertise with new movements like Katiba Macina, such as in the field of explosives manufacturing.

The structural and organisational mechanisms of the new alliance are not yet apparent; nor is it clear how it would affect the inner workings of the various groups. Yet it is to be expected that the respective groups would retain their identity, as well as a degree of leeway in their actions.

In so doing, they will continue to fuel insecurity in their traditional areas of operation. These differ according to the social, economic and security realities of their respective areas. JNIM’s position as a key actor in the regional jihad should not divert attention away from those deep-rooted local realities.

This current trend of attacks by JNIM sparks fears of a resurgence of all-out attacks in coming weeks.

There has been an exponential increase in the acts claimed by, or attributed to, these groups over the past two years. In 2016, at least 257 attacks were reported in Mali and its neighbouring countries (Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire and Niger): an increase of nearly 150% compared to 2015. At least 60 attacks have been recorded during this first quarter of 2017. The most likely scenario is a continuation of localised attacks in northern and central Mali, as well as in border regions.

This trend will, of course, depend on whether these groups are willing, and indeed able, to assert their presence.

Despite their limitations, the effectiveness and adequacy of the French Operation Barkhane and the Malian armed forces (FAMA) will be decisive; at least in the short term. Judging from recent operations in Central Mali, FAMA seems to be increasingly effective – at least from an operational point of view.

It is important to note that the JNIM also comes at a time when attempts to implement the June 2015 Mali peace and reconciliation agreement are slow and difficult. This raises the issue of the inclusion of ‘Malian jihadists’ in the ongoing political process, one of the main recommendations of the National Understanding Conference (Conférence d’entente nationale) held in Bamako from 27 March to 2 April. One of the major objectives of the conference was to address the root causes of the political and security crisis in the country.

Despite doubts about the outcome of the conference, it was an opportunity to find ways for the groups to take a hold locally, by determining appropriate responses to the social, economic and security challenges they face. Malian actors must work together to ensure that the outcomes of this process are a success.

Pirates have hijacked an Indian commercial ship off the coast of Somalia and the vessel is heading toward the shore, a former government anti-piracy official told Reuters on Monday.

“We understand Somali pirates hijacked a commercial Indian

ship and (it is heading) towards Somalia shores,” Abdirizak Mohamed Dirir, a former director of the anti-piracy agency in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region, said.

Graeme Gibbon-Brooks of UK-based Dryad Maritime Security said industry sources had told him the vessel was en route to Bosasso from Dubai when it was hijacked on Saturday.

The pirates were on board and were taking the ship and its 11 crew members to Eyl in Puntland, he said.

Last month, Somali pirates hijacked an oil tanker, the first commandeering of a vessel since 2012, but released it after a fight with Puntland’s marine force.

The hijacking followed an outpouring of anger by locals over foreign fishermen flooding into their waters, some of whom have licenses to fish there.

Three Boko Haram suicide bombers died in their own explosions in the early hours of Sunday when they attempted to invade Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, with explosive vests strapped around their bodies, an official said according to premiumtimesng.com.

Two of the suicide bombers tried to make entry into the city through one of the known entry points near Muna Garage, a popular bus station along Maidugurui-Gamboru road.

They could not advance far into the town before some local security operatives spotted them. The bombers immediately detonated themselves to avoid being caught. No one but the two attackers died, an official said.

The spokesperson of the police in Borno State, Victor Isuku, said another lone suicide bomber, at the same time at a different location in the area, tried to attack civilians but was prevented by security operatives. The bomber ended up killing himself and injuring a civilian, he said.

“Today, at about 0438hrs (4.38am), two male suicide bombers detonated IED strapped to their bodies by Alhaji Bukar Gujari Filling station in Muna Garage area, Maiduguri killing themselves alone. A truck was partly damaged,” said Mr. Isuku, a deputy superintendent of police.

“Also at Dusuma village in Jere LGA, a suicide bomber detonated IED strapped on him almost at the same time, killing himself, while one person was injured by the explosion.”

Boko Haram insurgents have sustained attacks using suicide bombers who attempt to sneak into the city through two locations: Muna Garage along Maiduguri-Gamboru road and Molai axis along the Maiduguri- Biu highway.

Dozens of such attacks have been carried out in the past six months, which have resulted in death and injuries and to dozens of people.

Some of the few arrested suicide bombers have told security officers that they were primed to carry out the attacks by Boko Haram leaders in remote bushes. They said the Boko Haram leaders dropped them on the outskirts of the town using motorcycles.

The factional Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, in a recent video said his faction of the group is responsible for the suicide bombings, an assault he boasted will continue for a long time.