Gunmen attack multiple police stations in Somali capital

Al-Shabaab used suicide bombings and guns in the latest mid-night raid, with the security minister Abdullahi Mohmed Nur describing the incident as the largest in nine years in the capital city.

News Keydmedia Online
22 February 2022

Somali soldiers run to take positions during ongoing fighting with gunmen, after a suicide car bomb in Mogadishu [AP Photo]

MOGADISHU, Somalia – An enormous bomb attack was targeted four police stations in Mogadishu on Tuesday, the second time in a week that the capital has been rocked by a multi-direction assault.

Deafening explosions were heard at noon in police stations in Hodan, Wadajir, Howlwadag, and Boondheere districts after suspected Al-Shabaab militants hurled grenades at the security offices.

Speaking to the reporters following the raid, police spokesman major Abdifitah Aden confirmed that the security forces managed to detain seven suspects linked to the bombings which caused no casualties.

Residents in the capital have expressed fears of increasing attacks, recalling last week's Al-Shabaab attack on a police station in Kahda and checkpoints in Yaqshid and elsewhere which left six dead.

Al-Shabaab used suicide bombings and guns in the latest mid-night raid, with the security minister Abdullahi Mohmed Nur describing the incident as the largest in nine years in the capital city.

Al-Shabaab has doubled the number of bombings in Somalia during a critical time of elections, with the worsening humanitarian situation in many parts of the country that put millions at risk of famine.

The Al-Qaeda-linked terror group made a comeback after the U.S. military suspended airstrikes last year under Trump's order to remove American special forces from Somalia on the eve of his White House exit.

The U.S. troops estimated 700 were training and advising Somali elite forces from SNA’s Danab brigade to fight Al-Shabaab in its strongholds in the south and central regions.

KEYDMEDIA English