• Somali fishermen reap benefits from calmer waters

    Stuart Price / AU-UN IST via AFP - Getty Images

    A man carrying a large sailfish to the fish market in the Xamar Weyne district of Mogadishu, Somalia, on March 16, 2013.

    Stuart Price / AU-UN IST via AFP - Getty Images

    Men looking out across a harbor in Mogadishu early on the morning of March 16, 2013.

    Stuart Price / AU-UN IST via Reuters

    Freshly caught tuna fish are lined up for sale inside Mogadishu's fish market on March 16, 2013.

    By David R Arnott, NBC News

    The relative peace that has prevailed in Mogadishu over recent months was shattered by a car bomb that killed at least ten people in the Somali capital on Monday.

    But for Somalia's fishermen, the outlook remains promising. Their country boasts a longer coastline than any other nation in mainland Africa, with the bountiful waters of the Indian Ocean offering a plentiful potential harvest, but two decades of civil strife have greatly restricted the development of the fishing industry.

    Each morning, an eclectic catch is unloaded and transported to the city's Xamar Weyne fish market, where it is sold for local consumption and, increasingly, for export to other countries.  

    Stuart Price / AU-UN IST via AFP - Getty Images

    A man carrying a large sailfish to the fish market in the Xamar Weyne district of Mogadishu on March 16, 2013.

    Editor's note: These images were released on March 18, 2013 by the African Union-United Nations Information Support Team, which is affiliated to the African Union Mission in Somalia.

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  • Car bomb in Somalia kills at least 10

    GRAPHIC WARNING: Contains images which some viewers may find disturbing. 

    Mohamed Abdiwahab / AFP - Getty Images

    A member of the Somali security forces flees the site of a car bomb in central Mogadishu, Somalia, on March 18, 2013.

    Mohamed Abdiwahab / AFP - Getty Images

    A woman reacts near the site of a car bomb in central Mogadishu on March 18, 2013.

    Reuters reports — A car bomb exploded near the presidential palace in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Monday, killing at least 10 people in a blast that appeared to target senior government officials, police said.

    The suicide attacker detonated explosives while driving along a boulevard that runs between the palace and the national theatre, a route lined by tearooms that were engulfed in fire moments after the blast, senior police officer Abdiqadir Mohamud said. A public minibus driving along the road burst into flames.

    "The suicide car bomber targeted a senior national security officer whose car was passing near the theatre," Mohamud told Reuters. "Most of the people who died were on board the minibus - civilians. This public vehicle coincidentally came between the government car and the car bomb when it was hit." Read the full story.

    Feisal Omar / Reuters

    An injured man sits on the road near the presidential palace in Mogadishu on March 18, 2013.

    A car bomb explodes near the presidential palace in Mogadishu, Somalia, killing at least 10 people. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

     

  • Kenyan soldiers on patrol in former stronghold of al Qaeda-backed militants

    Stuart Price/African Union-United Nations Information Support Team via AP

    A Kenyan soldier stands guard in the center of the southern Somali port city of Kismayu on Oct. 5.

    Reuters reports: Kenyan troops in Somalia are working flush out rebel remnants after al Qaeda-backed militants fled last week from their last major stronghold. "We don't want to be seen as an occupying force," Colonel Cyrus Oguna, a Kenyan army spokesman, told a Reuters reporter travelling with Kenyan forces. Al Shabaab fighters fled the southern Somali port city of Kismayu a week ago, leaving behind a small number of militants to carry out suicide bombings, hit-and-run grenade attacks and targeted shootings, Oguna said. Full Story

    Stuart Price/African Union-United Nations Information Support Team via AP

    Unexploded ordnance, including rocket-propelled grenades and mortar shells left behind by the Al-Qaeda-affiliated extremist group Al Shabaab, are destroyed in a controlled detonation in Kismayu on Oct. 5.

    Eds. note: These picture were made available Oct. 6

    Stuart Price/African Union-United Nations Information Support Team via AP

    Kenyan soldiers patrol in Kismayu.

    Stuart Price/African Union-United Nations Information Support Team via AP

    Kenyan soldiers patrol Kismayu on Oct. 5.

    Stuart Price/African Union-United Nations Information Support Team via AP

    A fighter of the pro-governmnet Ras Kimboni Brigade stands with a belt-fed machine gun inside the former compound housing the offices of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) during a combat engineering team's sweep for unexploded ordnance in Kismayu on Oct. 5.

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  • Somalia pirate dens see decline as international efforts to stop seizures succeed

    Farah Abdi Warsameh / AP

    Somali pirate Hassan stands near a Taiwanese fishing vessel that washed up on shore after pirates were paid a ransom and released the crew, in the once-bustling pirate den of Hobyo, Somalia. "There's nothing to do here these days. The hopes for a revitalized market are not high," said Hassan, a high school graduate who taught English in private school before turning to piracy in 2009.

    Farah Abdi Warsameh / AP

    A Somali government soldier walks next to some of the overturned pirate skiffs that litter the dunes on the shoreline near the once-bustling pirate den of Hobyo, Somalia.

    Farah Abdi Warsameh / AP

    Prostitute Faduma Ali, who longs for the days when her pirate customers had money, chews the stimulant khat and smokes a cigarette at a house in the once-bustling pirate town of Galkayo, Somalia. "Those days are over. Can you pay me $1,000?" she asked, the price she once commanded for a night's work. "If not, goodbye and leave me alone."

    Farah Abdi Warsameh / AP

    A child displaced from another region of Somalia stands in his family's makeshift shop in the once-bustling pirate town of Galkayo, Somalia.

    Farah Abdi Warsameh / AP

    A Somali metalsmith sells knives at his street stall in the once-bustling pirate town of Galkayo, Somalia.

    International efforts to stop piracy off the Somalia coast are proving successful as numbers of ceased vessels in 2012 dramatically decline, but some experts think it's too early to declare victory.

    AP reports: Somali pirates hijacked 46 ships in 2009 and 47 in 2010, the European Union Naval Force says. In 2011, pirates launched a record number of attacks — 176 — but commandeered only 25 ships, an indication that new on-board defenses were working. This year, pirates have hijacked just five ships, the last on May 10 when the MV Smyrna and its crew of 26 were taken. They are still being held. Continue reading the story.

    The empty whisky bottles and overturned, sand-filled skiffs that litter this once-bustling shoreline are signs that the heyday of Somali piracy may be over. Most of the prostitutes are gone, the luxury cars repossessed. Pirates talk more about catching lobsters than seizing cargo ships.

  • Somalia marks one year since Islamist militants were driven out of Mogadishu

    Abdurashid Abdulle Abikar / AFP - Getty Images

    Somalis celebrate during a ceremony to mark the first anniversary of terror group Al-Shabab's withdrawal from Mogadishu at Konis Stadium in the north of the capital on Aug. 6, 2012. Somali president Sheikh Shrif Sheikh Ahmed attended the ceremony and declared the day a national day to be called 'Peace day' and marked each year.

    Dai Kurokawa / EPA reports — On Aug. 6 Somalia marked one year since African Union and Somali government forces drove out the hardline Islamist militants al-Shabab from the capital Mogadishu. Life has been returning to normal for many Mogadishu residents since al-Shabab left the city. However, the change is fragile and the Islamist fighters, who control much of the country's southern area, remain a great threat to the stability of the capital. The population of Somali refugees reached more than one million last month according to The United Nations Refugee Agency. Read More

    See more photos on Somalia

    Dai Kurokawa / EPA

    Dock workers carry bags of imported cement at a seaport in Mogadishu, Somalia on Aug. 6.

    Dai Kurokawa / EPA

    Twelve-year-old Yusuf Abdrahaman lies on a stretcher as he waits to be transported to another clinic in Mogadishu, Somalia on Aug. 6. Abdrahaman was injured when a wall collapsed on him while playing outside.

    Reuters

    A Burundian soldier serving with the African Union Mission in Somalia patrols in an armed personnel carrier in Mogadishu on Aug. 6.

    Stuart Price / EPA

    The Mogadishu fishing harbor stands in Somalia on Aug. 6.

    Dai Kurokawa / EPA

    Somali women wait to receive treatment at the outpatient clinic run by the African Union in Mogadishu on Aug. 6.

    Dai Kurokawa / EPA

    African Union soldiers from Uganda play a board game as they rest at their camp in Mogadishu, Somalia on Aug. 6.

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  • African Union forces intensify attack on al Shabaab rebels in Somalia

    Stuart Price / African Union-United Nations Support Team via Reuters

    A tank with the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) advances as a battle group prepares to cross an area of bushland in the west of Deynile, north-west of the Somali capital Mogadishu on May 23, 2012.

    Stuart Price / African Union-United Nations Support Team via EPA

    Ugandan soldiers serving with AMISOM walk through a thicket on May 23, 2012 as a battle group crosses bushland west of Deynile.

    Reuters reports — African Union and Somali government troops stepped up their assault on al Shabaab militants in the northern outskirts of Mogadishu on Wednesday, forcing hundreds of families to flee their makeshift homes and head for the city center.

    The AU force, which already controls most of the capital, is trying to advance through the Afgoye corridor, once a rural area northwest of Mogadishu but now home to hundreds of thousands of Somalis uprooted from their homes.

    Al Shabaab still controls swathes of central and southern Somalia but is being gradually squeezed out of its strongholds by Kenyan and Ethiopian troops who have launched their own incursions into Somalia, and is being pushed out of Mogadishu by AU forces. Read the full story.

    Stuart Price / African Union-United Nations Support Team via AFP - Getty Images

    A Ugandan soldier serving with AMISOM runs for cover during a firefight on May 23, 2012 west of Deynile.

    Mohamed Abdiwahab / AFP - Getty Images

    Civilians flee Afgoye, site of the world's largest displaced people's camp, as African Union and Somali government troops pushed forward their assault on al Shabaab on May 23, 2012.

    Stuart Price / African Union-United Nations Support Team via AFP - Getty Images

    AMISOM soldiers stand in front of an armored personel carrier on May 22, 2012, during a joint AMISOM and Somali National Army (SNA) operation to seize and liberate territory from al Shabaab in the Afgoye region west of Mogadishu.

     

  • Suicide attack kills Somali sports officials

     

    Omar Faruk / Reuters

    Relatives assist an unidentified woman injured in an explosion at the national theater in Mogadishu, Somalia, on April 4, 2012.

    Omar Faruk / Reuters

    Residents assist an unidentified man injured in the explosion.

    NBC News, msnbc.com staff and news services report — The president of Somalia's Olympic committee and the head of the country's soccer federation have been killed in a suicide blast at Mogadishu's newly reopened national theater that left at least 10 dead, according to reports.

    Sports official Shafici Mohyadin said the two were killed on Wednesday when the blast hit the first anniversary celebration of Somalia's television station, according to the Associated Press.

    Ali Muse, the head of Mogadishu's ambulance service, said at least 10 people were killed and dozens wounded, including the country's national planning minister.

    Al-Shabab, the regional terror group affiliated to al-Qaida, claimed reponsibility for the attack, Reuters reported. Read more.

    Omar Faruk / Reuters

    Policemen and residents secure the national theater after the explosion.

    Mohamed Sheikh Nor / AP

    Somalis stretcher away a man wounded in the blast.

     

  • Hostage Judith Tebbutt freed by captors in Somalia

    AP

    British tourist Judith Tebbutt, 56, who was snatched by Somali gunmen from a resort island in Kenya and whose husband David Tebbutt was killed in the attack, is seen after being freed following more than six months in captivity in Adado, Somalia Wednesday, March 21.

    AFP - Getty Images

    British hostage Judith Tebbutt, is pictured at a house in Adado, central Somalia on March 21, before her departure. British hostage Judith Tebbutt was released in Somalia on March 21, more than six months after she was abducted from an isolated Kenyan resort by kidnappers who killed here husband.

    AFP - Getty Images

    British hostage Judith Tebbutt, left, is escorted to a plane at Adado airport after she was released in central Somalia on March 21. Freed British hostage Judith Tebbutt arrived Wednesday in the Kenyan capital after being released in war-torn Somalia where she had been held in captivity for more than six months.

     

    By msnbc.com staff and news services

    MOGADISHU, Somalia -- A British tourist snatched by Somali gunmen from a resort island in Kenya was freed on Wednesday after more than six months in captivity, according to reports.

    Judith Tebbutt was taken in September by gunmen who killed her husband, David Tebbutt, during the attack.

    The Associated Press reported that Tebbutt's release on Wednesday was confirmed by a Somali pirate named Bile Hussein and by an official with the militia Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jama named Mohammed Hussein.

    Read the full account of Tebbutt's release here.

  • Car bomb explodes outside Mogadishu police building

    Omar Faruk / Reuters

    People gather at the scene of an explosion in Hodan district of Somalia's capital Mogadishu, on Feb. 17. A car bomb exploded next to a police department building in the Somali capital on Friday, wounding two police officers, the latest in a wave of attacks in Mogadishu.

    AP reports -- A car bomb exploded inside a police compound in Somalia's capital on Friday, wounding two people, an official said.

    The blast rattled Mogadishu and sent smoke into the sky, but Lt. Aden Kalmoy Dhaqane, a military official, said the explosion wounded only two people.

    For more information.

    Feisal Omar / Reuters

    A government policeman walks at the scene of an explosion in Hodan district of Somalia's capital Mogadishu, on Feb. 17.

     

  • Somali families flee to capital, fearing fighting

    Feisal Omar / Reuters

    Families flee from al-Shabab held towns to Mogadishu, Somalia, on Feb. 16, 2012, following al-Qaeda's declaration last week that the Somali militant group was joining its ranks.

    The Associated Press reports from MOGADISHU, Somalia — Thousands of Somalis are fleeing an insurgent-held town into the capital because they fear a military attack by African Union (AU) troops allied to the weak Somali government.

    Hundreds of cars and trucks packed with mattresses and other household items created traffic jams in the capital of Mogadishu on Thursday.

    The exodus comes a day after Somali and AU troops extended their reach beyond Somali capital to launch an offensive on Elasha Biyaha. The rebel-held settlement is inhabited by Somalis who fled Mogadishu violence in 2007.

    Last week it was reported that the Somali militant group al-Shabab, which is fighting the Somali government and AU forces, had formally joined al-Qaida.

    Feisal Omar / Reuters

    People flee from al-Shabab held towns to Mogadishu on Feb. 16, 2012.

     

  • Truck bomb in heart of Somalia's capital kills at least 65

    Mohamed Sheikh Nor / AP

    People carry a wounded man at the scene of an explosion in Mogadishu, Somalia, on Oct. 4. Dozens of people were reported killed after a car laden with explosives blew up in front of the Ministry of Education in the Somali capital.

    Mohamed Sheikh Nor / AP

    A soldier keeps guard near a burning vehicle at the scene of an explosion in Mogadishu on Oct. 4.

    msnbc.com news services report from MOGADISHU:

    A truck bomb killed at least 65 people at government buildings in the heart of Somalia's capital on Tuesday, an ambulance worker said, and al-Shabab insurgents claimed responsibility for the attack.

    Witnesses said there was a loud blast at a compound housing four government ministries in the K4 (Kilometer 4) area of the capital Mogadishu, where students had gathered on Tuesday to take exams.

    "We have carried 65 dead bodies and 50 injured people," ambulance coordinator Ali Muse told Reuters. "Some are still lying there. Most of the people have burns." Continue reading.

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