The death toll from the Mogadishu blast is expected to rise.

No one has claimed responsibility for the vehicle explosion that appeared to have targeted  a tax collection centre near a military checkpoint in Mogadishu.

The area has beenhit several times by jihadi group Al Shabaab.

The Islamist terror organisations was driven from the Somali capital eight years ago but has managed to return to stage indiscriminate acts of terror in Mogadishu and other urban areas.

Today’s victims include a number of children.

Among the dead in one of the deadliest attacks in Mogadishu in recent years is a busload of university students going to classes.

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The groups is calling this revenge for the October killing in Syria of its leader and spokesperson .

The 56-second piece of footage released by the so-called ISIS news agency Amaq does not give the names of the 11 victims.

They are believed to be men captured in  Nigeria’s north-eastern Borno State in recent weeks.

The timing coincides with Christmas the most important Christian festival.

The Nigerian government has not been able to contain the Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram operating in the north east of the country which has substantial ties with other jihadi extremist militant groups like ISIS.

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She asked South African law enforcement authorities to probe the matter.

South Africa’s Ambassador to Maputo Mandisi Mpahlwa has told the minister about South African Andre Mayer Hanekom being charged with involvement in the jihadi attack in northern Mozambique that have left more than 100 people dead.

Some of the victims has been beheaded with machetes.

Foreign Minister Lindiwe Sisulu says its unacceptable for any South African to be involved in an criminal activities destabilizing an old friend like Mozambique or indeed any regional partner.

Assuming its rotating seat on the United Nations Security Council today, Sisulu says South Africa has the activities of extremist groups in Africa high on the agenda.

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The Jihadi group Islamic State has claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s attack in Tunis.

It left 23 people – 20 of them tourists – dead.

At least 47, including a South African, are hospitalised in Tunis.

The attack was aimed at crippling Tunisia’s vital tourism industry that is only now recovering from the effects of the instability following the Arab Spring that began there three years ago.

It has made an immediate impact. At least two cruise lines have taken Tunis off their itinerary following the attack.

It was passengers from two liners who were targeted as they alighted from their coaches to visit the Barda Museum.

Countering this, there has been a call on social media for people to show solidarity with Tunisia by book their holidays there this year.

It remains to be seen if idealism will trump trepidation.

President Beji Caid Essebsi’s had strong international support for his declaration of war against terrorism.

US President Barak Obama’s telephoned him offering condolences and Washington’s support in fighting the evil.

Nevertheless, Tunisia with its models of freedoms and democracy has made it a target for Islamist extremists.

It represents everything the jihadis hate.

Tunisian security authorities responded quickly to Wednesday’s attack. Since then, they have arrested nine people.

They have identified the two terrorist killed by police clearing the museum. One of them Yassin Labibi was on a security watchlist.

That list is substantial, since at least 3 000 young Tunisians have slipped through the security net to join Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria.

Those who have returned have adopted totalitarian ideals, telling their compatriots that economic hardship and unemployment is a result of a government more concerned with granting women’s rights than pressing hardline Islamist values.

Sandwiched between Algeria and Libya, Tunisians believe that their bastion of freedom is made possible by ever-present and vigilant security forces.

Policemen are posted on every bus and train carriage.

So the applause for the way those forces have reacted since Wednesday, will undoubtedly be replaced with increased public scrutiny.

This blog first appeared on the site www.jjcornish.com

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President Barak Obama’s telephoned his Tunisian counterpart Beji Caid Essebsi offering condolences and US support in the fight against terrorism.

Tunisian security authorities have arrested nine peoole following the deadly attack clearly aimed at the country’s tourism industry.

Passengers from two cruise ships recently arrived in Tunis were alighting from their coaches at the Barsa museum when the terrorists struck.

As a new age model of democracy in the Arab world, Tunisia draws tourists – particularly from nearby Europe – to its significant physical and historical attractions.

But its freedoms represent everything the extremists abhor and must therefore make it a target for jihadi attacks.

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The democratically elected government is struggling to deal with both the hangover of the deposed Ben Ali regime and the new wave of jihadism that’s crashed down on the Arab world since then.

More Tunisians have to gone to fight for Islamic State in Syria and Iraq than from any other Arab country.

The authorities have stopped about 9 000 Tunisians from doing this. But at least 3 000 have slipped through the net.

The radicalised young men that have returned are preying on the disaffection with the unemployment and poverty dating back to ousted dictator Ben Ali.

This is creating fertile ground for unrest and violent protest.

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Two others died with Adan Garar who was a leader of the Al Shabab terror group.

The US drone struck the car carrying Al Shabab militants near the Somali town of Bardhere.

Adan Garar was a top jihadi strategist. In addition to the mall attack in neighbouring Kenya, he planned several attacks on tourist facilities along the Kenyan coast and in the Uganda capital, Kampala.

An attack on Mombasa was averted when an explosive-packed car was intercepted.

Another car, rigged to blow up at Mombasa international airport, was detonated on a ferry.

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