Monday, June 18, 2007
"After realising that people are causing insecurity and chaos here, we have decided to impose a curfew on Baidoa for a week, from 9:00 pm (1800 GMT) to dawn," Ibrahim Hashi Gabo, Baidoa police chief, told a press conference.
Sunday's attack in the town, about 250 kilometres (155 miles) northwest of the capital Mogadishu, left one bank security guard dead and three other people injured, police official Adan Bid told AFP.
Government forces sealed off the area after the suspected assailant fled the scene.
"We are investigating the matter, but it seems that this grenade explosion is linked to terrorist actions that are taking place in the country," Bid said.
On Thursday two people were killed when a grenade was thrown into a crowded cinema in the town.
Until March Baidoa was the seat of the government before it moved to Mogadishu after an Ethiopian-led offensive wrested control of much of Somalia from Islamist forces.
Unlike Mogadishu, which has seen near-daily attacks carried out by Islamist and clan fighters on Ethiopian army and government targets, Baidoa has been relatively peaceful since then.
Earlier this week, a United Nations-backed peace conference for feuding Somali factions planned for June 14 was put back by a month. It was the third time it has been postponed, due to insecurity and lack of funds.
Source: AFP, June 18, 2007