MOGADISHU: Somalia’s Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabab overran and looted UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) compounds in the western town of Baidoa, humanitarian sources and witnesses said Friday.
Heavily armed Al-Shabab fighters stormed three UNMAS compounds in Baidoa, a city that lies 250 km west of Mogadishu, on Thursday.
“They took the computers and every piece of equipment they could find,” a local elder, who asked to be named only as Ahmed, said. “We tried to stop the looting but the Shabab wouldn’t listen.”
A UN employee speaking on condition of anonymity confirmed the looting. Both sources said foreign fighters were among the attackers.
The raid took place on the same day that the Al-Shabab’s “office for supervising the affairs of foreign agencies” announced it was banning the UN mine-clearing organization. The group accused UNMAS of spying, charging it had been “surveying and signposting some of the most vital and sensitive areas under the control of the Mujahedeen.”
Ship released
Meanwhile, Somali pirates have released a Greek-owned ship and its 21 crew members, including 14 Filipinos, after more than a month in captivity, the Philippine government and the ship’s owner said Friday.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that its embassy in Nairobi reported that the MV Delvina was heading to Mombasa with its crew, who were safe and in good health.
Foreign Affairs spokesman Ed Malaya said the ship, seized Nov. 5, was released around 2 a.m. Friday (1800 GMT Thursday).
“All the crew are reported unharmed and are well despite their 43-day ordeal,” the ship’s owner, Meadway Shipping & Trading Inc., said in a statement in Athens.
It said the ship was hijacked northeast of the Comoros Islands in the Indian Ocean as it sailed from Ukraine to Mombassa.
