Somalia PM says he won't resign

MOGADISHU, Somalia, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- Somalia Prime Minister Nur Hassan Nur Ade says he won't step down after 11 of his cabinet ministers resigned to protest what they call his "dictatorship."

The mass resignations came just before a bomb blast struck Mogadishu Sunday morning that 15 killed women who were cleaning the streets, CNN reported. Witnesses said the explosion created a scene of carnage, with pools of blood and body part scattered throughout the area.

The Cabinet walk-out was triggered by anger over Nur Ade's decision to fire Mogadishu Mayor Mohamed Omar Habeb Mohamed Dhere, with some ministers citing what they called Nur Ade's "dictatorship," CNN said.

Many of the ministers who left were allied to Somalia President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed. Some called for Nur Ade to step down, but he gave no indication he would do so.

"I'm not ready to resign," Nur Ade told the broadcaster Sunday, adding the ministers' resignations wouldn't stop the government from completing a U.N.-brokered peace deal with the Alliance for the Reliberation of Somalia reached in Djibouti in June.