Somali Government Requests International Help with Investigation

Somali government officials issued a formal statement on Tuesday, requesting international help regarding the investigation that needs to be performed following Monday's assassination attempt on interim Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf in Baidoa, which killed at least 11 people and wounded many others, the BBC reports.

Somali investigators highlighted their belief that al-Qaeda militants may have been behind the planning and carrying out of the assassination attempt. "We really do not have the expertise to uncover the whole attack that was well organized by the same groups that are carrying out attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan", government spokesman Abdirahman Mohamed Nur Dinari stated during an interview with AFP news agency, quoted by the BBC.

"The government is very concerned. We believe there could be further attacks", the Somali Foreign Minister, Ismail Mohamed Hurre, declared during an interview with AFP as well, from the capital city of Kenya, Nairobi. He added that there is no clear evidence to place the smoking gun on the exact perpetrator, or group of criminals who performed such an act, as of yet, but the assault in itself bears the "fingerprints" of the Union of Islamic Courts, now in control of capital Mogadishu and most of the southern part of Somalia.

On the other hand, the UIC virulently condemned the attack and denied any involvement within it through the chairman of the group Shaif Shaikh Ahmed, who stated that Ethiopia may have had a hand in it, for a pretext to enter Somalia with its troops. However, the organization has been reported that it harbors and fosters al-Qaeda militants on numerous occasions.

According to AP reports, Baidoa, the current location for the Somali government, which had been ousted from Mogadishu several months ago, has currently been placed under a very strict series of security measures that include the checking of vehicles and people entering or leaving the city.