MOGADISHU: Gunfire and explosions went off in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu in the early hours of Wednesday as Al-Shabab militants attacked police stations and security check points, the internal security minister said.
Al Qaeda-linked Al-Shabab, which aims to topple the central government and impose its severe interpretation of Islamic law, carries out frequent attacks against the government, including attacking a minibus carrying election delegates last week.
“The terrorists attacked the suburbs of Mogadishu and targeted our police stations and check points,” Abdullahi Nor, the minister, wrote on Twitter.
“Our security defeated the enemy.”
There were no immediate details on casualties. Police would provide more details on the attacks, the minister said.
There was no immediate comment from Al-Shabab.
Gunfire, explosions rock Somalian capital in militant attacks
https://arab.news/p78as
Gunfire, explosions rock Somalian capital in militant attacks
Philippine lawmakers start VP Duterte impeachment hearings
- The revived impeachment bid leans heavily on allegations that the younger Duterte misused public funds
MANILA: A Philippine congressional committee began impeachment hearings Monday that could dash Vice President Sara Duterte’s run for the country’s top job.
The daughter of former president Rodrigo Duterte, who recently announced her candidacy for the 2028 presidential election, was impeached by the country’s House of Representatives last year only to see the Supreme Court toss the case out over procedural issues.
The revived impeachment bid leans heavily on allegations that the younger Duterte misused public funds while in office and will see the House justice committee debate three such complaints.
A fourth case was dropped by complainants who hoped to speed up the process.
Duterte also stands accused of making a death threat against her former ally and current President Ferdinand Marcos, with whom she is engaged in an explosive political feud.
Under the Philippine constitution, an impeachment triggers a Senate trial. A guilty verdict would result in Duterte being barred from politics and sidelined from the 2028 presidential race.
The latest impeachment bid faces a changed environment with the vice president ahead in recent polls, analysts told AFP.
“The political context will be very different, especially now that Sara declared her candidacy,” University of the Philippines political science professor Jean Franco said.
“It’s definitely going to weigh on the minds of the members of the House of Representatives,” Franco said, adding that a vote for impeachment would effectively see a lawmaker’s career “marked for death.”
Anthony Lawrence Borja, an associate professor of political science at De La Salle University agreed saying: “It is ultimately a question of whether the patronage of the current administration outweighs their fear of Duterte’s condemnation.”
The same committee hearing the case against Duterte last month tossed out a pair of impeachment complaints against Marcos, ruling that allegations of corruption over a scandal involving bogus flood control projects lacked substance.
Michael Wesley Poa, spokesman for Duterte’s defense team, told AFP they were closely monitoring deliberations and trusted “the same standards” used in the Marcos hearing would be applied.
