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Somali Insurgents Fire at US Congressman's Plane

Three killed in following skirmish, locals say

By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff

Posted Apr 13, 2009 1:10 PM CDT

(Newser) – Somali insurgents fired mortars at a Somalia airport as a US congressman was departing, the AP reports. None of the six shells hit the airport, and New Jersey Rep. Donald Payne made it away safely—but 19 civilians were wounded when the shells landed in nearby neighborhoods, a hospital administrator said. Locals said after the attack, insurgents and African Union soldiers fired at each other, killing three people and wounding 12 more, Reuters reports.

Payne was in Somalia for talks on piracy, security, and cooperation; trips to the area are rare among US politicians, Reuters notes. Speaking earlier with Somalia’s interim leaders, Payne defended a US attack on pirates holding a US captain. “If there were no pirates, the US government would not have intervened,” he said. “Every country has a right to defend its citizens.”

African Union (AU) tanks patrol the street in Mogadishu, Somalia, Monday, Feb. 9, 2009.
African Union (AU) tanks patrol the street in Mogadishu, Somalia, Monday, Feb. 9, 2009.   (AP Photo/Mohamed Sheikh Nor)
In an Aug. 6, 2007, file photo, Rep. Donald Payne is seen in Newark, NJ.
In an Aug. 6, 2007, file photo, Rep. Donald Payne is seen in Newark, NJ.   (AP Photo/Mike Derer, File)
Rep. Donald Payne, D-NJ, left, has discussions with Somalia Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid, Monday, April 13, 2009 in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.
Rep. Donald Payne, D-NJ, left, has discussions with Somalia Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid, Monday, April 13, 2009 in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.   (AP Photo/Mohamed Sheikh Nor)
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COMMENTS
Showing 1 of 1 comment
kokuaguy
Apr 15, 2009 5:25 AM CDT
No, this doesn't make hostage-taking justifiable, and yes, some are clearly just gangsters - especially those who have held up World Food Programme supplies. But the "pirates" have the overwhelming support of the local population for a reason. The independent Somalian news-site WardherNews conducted the best research we have into what ordinary Somalis are thinking - and it found 70 percent "strongly supported the piracy as a form of national defence of the country's territorial waters." During the revolutionary war in America, George Washington and America's founding fathers paid pirates to protect America's territorial waters, because they had no navy or coastguard of their own. Most Americans supported them. Is this so different? Johann Hari

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