The claim exonerates the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), which was accused by the Addis Ababa regime of being behind the Sunday blast in Jijiga town, capital of the Somali region of Ethiopia.
“ONLF firmly believes that the Ethiopian security forces or its cronies in the region are behind such an act which is intended to tarnish the legitimate national liberation struggle of the Ogaden people,” the rebels said in a statement, according to Reuters.
Police earlier on Sunday blamed the blast on “terrorists” and said they suspected the ONLF. But police recanted the story on Monday and said a suspect had confessed to being a member of the Al-Ittihad Al-Islamiya, and his group was responsible for the explosion.
“We are in the process of hunting down two other suspects identified by the individual in charge of the blast who is already under our custody,” [regional police chief] Yusuf Mahmoud Mussai told AFP.
Al-Ittihad al-Islamiya was formed in 1984 in northern Somalia which borders Ethiopia’s restive eastern region. The ONLF, which was formed in the same year, also operates there.
The explosion was the latest violence in Ethiopia’s restive, outlying regions where various groups are fighting against the government. The government says they are sponsored by its enemies, principally Eritrea.
Since the middle of last year, the Ethiopian military has been waging an offensive against the separatist ONLF in the Somali region of the Horn of Africa nation.
The ONLF was formed in 1984. Its aims have varied between full scale independence to joining a “Greater Somalia” to more autonomy within Ethiopia.
