Thursday, May 7, 2015
MOGADISHU – At least three Somali government soldiers were killed on Thursday in an explosion in capital Mogadishu.
“The blast targeted an area frequented by our soldiers,” Somali Police Captain Mohamed Hussein told The Anadolu Agency.
The explosion, said to have been caused by an improvised explosive device (IED), occurred near the populous Bakara Market area.
“I can confirm three soldiers have been killed and several injured,” said Hussein.
The police official said no one had been arrested, but that police suspected Somalia’s Al-Shabaab militant group to be behind the attack.
Al-Shabaab, which is waging a years-long insurgency against the Somali government, had for years controlled much of central and southern Somalia.
Recently, however, the group has lost ground to the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) working in coordination with Somali army troops.
Nevertheless, the group has continued to carry out regular attacks on government officials and security personnel.
On Wednesday, Al-Shabaab assassinated Abdifatah Baare, the deputy commissioner of Mogadishu’s Wadajir district, along with his driver.
At least 90 people were rounded up by police in the wake of Baare’s murder.