Five killed as blasts hit Somali capital

MOGADISHU // At least five people were killed and 12 others injured in two separate car bombings yesterday in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu.

“More than five people were confirmed dead and many others were wounded in a car bomb blast near the Weheliye hotel,” said Ise Gure Mohammed, a district police commissioner.

Witnesses said the toll from the blast, which occurred along the busy Maka Al Mukarama road, could be higher.

“I saw the dead bodies of seven people but the death toll could be higher. There were seriously wounded people at a teashop close to the road where the vehicle exploded,” said witness Muhidin Ali.

Another witness said he saw as many as 10 bodies.

Ambulance attendants said they rescued eight people.

The Al Qaeda-linked extremist group Al Shabab claimed responsibility for the blast, according to the group’s Andalus radio. The group, which is fighting to overthrow the government, has often targeted hotels in Mogadishu, including an attack in January that killed at least 26 people.

In a separate blast yesterday morning, a suicide bomber detonated a minibus laden with explosives at the gate of a military camp south of the capital after guards stopped the vehicle. The bomber was killed and two people were wounded, said Col Yusuf Burhan, a Somali military officer. Somalia’s new prime minister Hassan Ali Khaire condemned the two attacks, saying they were carried out by “bloodthirsty groups”.

“We are very much devastated with the explosions aimed to harm the population. I promise that we will deal with those bloodthirsty elements with an iron fist,” he said.

Despite being ousted from most of its strongholds in south and central Somalia, Al Shabab continues to carry out attacks across the country. In the past couple of years it has started to target checkpoints and bases of the Somali military and the multinational African Union force.