Investigators: Somali Bombing May Have Been Revenge for Botched US Raid

US-Led August Raid Killed 10 Civilians

A late August US-led raid against the Somali farming village of Barire sparked a lot of anger among surviving locals. Now, investigators believe that the resentment may have provoked the recent massive bombing attack in the Somali capital of Mogadishu.

The Somali government initially claimed everyone killed in Barire was a terrorist, but provincial officials confirmed almost immediately all of the victims were civilians working in the farming area, including some children. Moreover, the evidence was they were summarily executed.

Somali investigators say that local tribal elders had called for revenge after the Barire killings, and were particularly mad at the central government for spending so long denying anything happened. They say it’s possible that the Mogadishu attack, which killed over 300, was that revenge.

There has been no claim of responsibility for the bombing as of yet, which is unusual if as officials maintain it is al-Shabaab. The truck contained explosives and was detonated remotely. It was parked near a fuel trick which also detonated.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.