Roadside bomb blast kills three near Somali capital

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bomb attack. However, Al-Shabab has been known to plant IEDs in Mogadishu-Afgoye road to target the Somali military and AU peacekeepers.

News Keydmedia Online
19 January 2021

MOGADISHU, Somalia – A police official says at least three people were killed and several others wounded in a roadside bomb explosion outside Mogadishu on Tuesday morning.

The blast resulted from an improvised explosive device [IED] that struck a car transporting Garasbaley deputy commissioner for security Ali Mohamed and Abdirashid Dubad, who was a leading Somali youth activist.

Among the dead include the driver and the security of the two officials, according to Capt Ahmed Hassan, a senior police officer in Mogadishu, who spoke to Keydmedia Online via phone following the incident.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bomb attack. However, Al-Shabab has been known to plant IEDs in Mogadishu-Afgoye road to target the Somali military and AU peacekeepers.

Sunday, at least 4 government soldiers were killed in an IED attack that targeted the governor of Lower Shabelle regions Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur Sidii. Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the deadly attack.

The terror group Al-Shabaab intensified attacks in the south and central regions ahead of the country’s elections, taking advantage of the US troops’ pull-out and the deepening political crisis.

The U.N. Mine Action said in its latest report to the U.N. Security Council that there more than 160 IED attacks through the end of April in 2020.

There has been a rise in civilian casualties in Mogadishu, which was attributed to the lax in security plan and military operations in the neighboring Lower Shabelle region.

KON English News Desk