The recent bomb attack in the capital reveals weakness in Al Shabaab, which is at its lowest military ebb for years, The horrific Al Shabaab bombing in Mogadishu on 29 October which killed 100 and wounded more than 400 showed the jihadists defiance in the face of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud s new government, which has promised to redouble the counter-insurgency campaign, intelligence sources are saying.
The latest Al Shabaab attacks, which may have had some security backing, aimed to delay the polls again, On 23 March Al Shabaab suicide bombers struck hard in the capital and Beled Weyne, focusing on the heavily-fortified Mogadishu airport complex which houses UN offices and foreign embassies. The militants targeted the section of Aden Adde International Airport. The selection of the speakers of the two houses of parliament and the presidential election were set to take place in this specially secure facility.