Shabab bombers kill 13 in Somalia

Twin suicide blasts strike bases near Mogadishu airport

MOGADISHU // At least 13 people were killed in twin bombings by Al Shabab extremists near the Somalian capital’s airport yesterday.

A suicide car bomber tried to speed through the barrier at the UN Mine Action Services office but guards shot at the car. The second car bomb detonated at a checkpoint manned by Somali security forces near the main African Union base.

“At least 13 people were confirmed to have died in two explosions. One of the vehicles went off near a security checkpoint and another close to a UN compound,” said Bishaar Abdi Gedi, a Somali police official.

There are 22,000 Amisom, or African Union, peacekeepers in Somalia. Their main base is next to Mogadishu’s airport, which is heavily fortified.

African Union troops were sent in 2007 to defend the UN-backed government against attacks by Al Shabab, the Al Qaeda-affiliated militants who are fighting to establish an Islamic emirate.

They were forced from Mogadishu five years ago but continue to regularly attack military, government and civilian targets.

In recent months the group has attacked other Amison bases. This month, eight soldiers were killed when an Al Shabab suicide car bomber targeted a Somali army training camp, with gunmen following on foot.

Al Shabab has also attacked in countries contributing to the AU force – Burundi, Djibouti, Kenya, Sierra Leone and Ethiopia.

This year is considered critical for the group, who are eager to disrupt an expected change of leadership in coming months.

Somalia was supposed to hold national elections this year but is instead going to hold what diplomats call a “limited franchise election” in which ordinary citizens do not participate. The UN now hopes a democratic vote can be held in 2020.