By Kylie M Tsudama
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

MOGADISHU, Somalia – The Somali Government has announced that a Danish man, Abdulrahman Ahmed Haji, 26, was the suicide bomber who killed at least 22 people.  His parents, who live in Copenhagen, identified his body from photographs, said Somali Information Minister Dahir Gelle.

“He was one of the Somali children who fled from Somalia’s war to Denmark, who returned to the country for a suicide attack when he got older,” said Speaker of Somalia’s Parliament, Sheikh Aden Mohamed Nor.  “He was sadly brainwashed by foreigners to massacre his people.”

Sheikh Aden Mohamed Madobe added, “It is unfortunate that a child whose parents escaped Somalia’s conflict and raised him in Europe came home with extremists ideologies and blew himself and innocent people up.”

As a child the bomber lived in Somalia before moving to Denmark, where he lived for 20 years.  He returned to Somalia last year where he joined the Islamist al-Shabaab militant group.  The Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET) said he was a “Somali citizen who had residence in Denmark.”  Ahmed Dhaqane, a Somali community leader in Copenhagen, said that the suspect had become deeply religious during his time in Denmark before moving back to Somalia with his pregnant wife.

An investigation into the attack revealed who the bomber was, however the government has declined to give any more information about the investigation or the bomber himself.

The bombing took place at a graduation for medical students from Benadir University in one of the few government-controlled parts of Mogadishu on December 3.  The bomber was disguised as a veiled woman.  Among those killed were three ministers.

The attack sparked public backlash against the militant group.  Dozens of Somali protestors walked through the capital, some burning black banners representing al-Shabaab.

One of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters, the current fighting has killed at least 19,000 Somali civilians and displaced another 1.5 million from their homes since the beginning of 2007.

For more information, please see:

AP – Experts: Somali Islamists Improving Tactics, Bombs – 11 December 2009

Reuters – Somali Speaker Says Suicide Bomber Was Danish – 11 December 2009

WSJ – Somalia Identifies Bomber – 11 December 2009

BBC – Somali Bomber ‘Was From Denmark’ – 10 December 2009