At least four members of Somalia’s national football team were slightly wounded in a car accident in Tanzanian capital; Dare Salem as they were coming back from a training base late on Monday.

The Ocean stars are now participating in the Council of East and Central African Football Associations (CECAFA) senior challenge cup which is taking place in Tanzania.

 

Somali Football Federation Secretary General Abdi Qani Said Arab told reporters that four of his best players including the captain Isse Abshir, goal keeper Kamal Ali Omar and two defenders Yasin Ali Egal and Dahir Mohamed Muktar were slightly wounded..

 

“Three others are shocked” the secretary General told reporters.

 

He said that the two cars collided with the bus carrying the Somali team, as they were returning to their hotel in Dare Salem after training.

 

Somalia arrived in Dare Salem on Sunday and played their first match against Burundi which defeated Somalia by 2 goals to nothing and according to the fixtures they are due to clash Tanzania later on Tuesday.

 

Because of insecurity in the country the Somali seniors have been training in Djibouti for the past two months in preparations for the on going CECAFA tournament.

 

The U-23 are also training in Djibouti where they are preparing for the second leg of 2012 London Olympic games qualifying match against Sudan on December 18. The match will take place in the Sudanese city of Um Durman.

 

Mean while Abdulkadeer Ali Guelleh of the Dallo airlines football Club has been seriously wounded by a stray bullet during training in Mogadishu on Monday and he is in a very critical condition.

 

“He was training here at the open ground of Somali police academy when a stray bullet hit him on the chest and he is being treated at the Madina hospital in Mogadishu” his coach Abdullahi Siyad told reporters in Mogadishu.

 

“Somalia is very dangerous where such job can’t be done, but Somali Football is still working what ever it takes to us” the coach said during press conference in Mogadishu.

 

Somalia has lacked a functioning central government since the 1991 downfall of former military rule of the late dictator General Mohamed Siyad Barre. Wars, Famine and humanitarian disaster have killed more than half a million people mainly civilians since then.

 

Somali Football Media Department

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Somali Football Media Department