Insurgents killed Somalia's security minister and at least 24 other people on Thursday in the deadliest suicide bomb attack yet in the Horn of Africa nation, officials said. Security Minister Omar Hashi Aden was a key player in the government offensive against rebels who control much of southern Somalia. Insurgent group Al-Shabaab, which has links to Al-Qaeda, stepped up their attacks in early May to try to oust President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, but neither side has delivered a knockout blow and clashes have killed about 300 people since then. “Al-Qaeda considers Somalia a strategic place. They want to make it a safe haven for criminals,” President Ahmed told a news conference. “This is an international war against Somalis. We ask the world to help us fight the international terrorists.” A suicide car bomber targeted Aden and other officials at a hotel in Baladwayne, a central town where the minister was helping direct operations against Al-Shabaab, which officials say has hundreds of foreign fighters in its ranks. A senior official in the prime minister's office said Somalia's former ambassador to Ethiopia, Abdkarin Farah Laqanyo, was also killed in the explosion. Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the blast. The UN says the conflict has displaced more than 122,000 people. At least 17 people were killed in overnight battles between Islamic insurgents and government forces in Mogadishu, witnesses said Thursday. Information Minister Farhan Ali Mohamed denied the government targeted residential areas, adding government forces were only defending themselves.
