Former MP was one of the Somalia suicide bombers that killed 13

A former Islamist MP turned al Shabaab militant was one of the drivers in Tuesday’s double car bomb attack on the African Union’s main peacekeeping base in Somalia. The militants said in a radio broadcast that Salah Nur Ismail, who joined al Shabaab in 2010, was one of those to blow himself up in the attack which killed 13 people, mainly guards from a private security firm. Ismail, also known by the nickname of Badbaado, said in audio recorded before the attack that he would be one of the suicide bombers. He quit the Somali parliament in 2010 after denouncing lawmakers as “infidels”.

Salah defected from the parliament in 2010, joined us and repented and he became a martyr today.

Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab’s military operation spokesman

Somalia is scheduled to hold a presidential election next month and security analysts say al Shabaab could take advantage of the distraction caused by campaigning to launch more attacks. “The current so-called Somali government lawmakers should follow suit. We are telling them to take part in the jihad via the same procedures,” said Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab’s military operation spokesman.

Somalia