Hiiraan Online
Monday March 25, 2019
The driver of the vehicle worked for SIMAD University. It is not clear if he was targeted in the attack.
Mogadishu (HOL) - An explosion on Monday killed a SIMAD university staff member and injured at least one other person, according to witnesses and university officials.
Witnesses report hearing a loud explosion on Black Sea street in Mogadishu's Hodan district.
SIMAD University confirmed the death of its staff member in a statement released on the school's Twitter account.
"We are mourning for the death of our later Staff member Mohamed Jeilani who fell victim in a landmine explosion in Mogadishu," the statement reads in part. "We also extend our 'get well soon' prayers to Hussein Ahmed Mohamed-another staff member who get wounded."
University officials moved to correct reports circulating that a lecturer at SIMAD was killed in the attack and that the vehicle was fitted with an IED explosive.
"CORRECTION: The dead staff member was a Driver and the injured was a security guard, no lecturers got harm in the explosion, in addition, the explosion was a landmine planted in the roadside, not fitted with the University Car. Thank you."
It is not yet apparent if the pair were specifically targeting in the attack.
Mohamed Jeilani (pictured) was driving down Black Sea St in Hodan district when his vehicle hit roadside car bomb. |
Although no group has yet to claim responsibility for the explosion, the attack comes as Al-Shabaab militants intensify their offensive in Mogadishu.
A budding civil engineer, Mohamed Abdi Kariye, was killed last Thursday after his vehicle was fitted with explosives and detonated as he drove down bustling KM-4 roundabout in Mogadishu.
Two days later, Al-Shabaab stormed a government building on Saturday after detonating a suicide car bomb.15 people, the Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Saqar Ibrahim Abdalla, were killed during the ensuing gun battle.
The timing Al-Qaeda linked group's military offensive appears to have caught government officials off guard. Last Wednesday, hundreds of soldiers vacated their posts in protest over months of missed pay.
Somalia’s Prime Minister Hassan Ali Kheire insists that only soldiers not registered with the government had not been paid.
Despite being dislodged from Mogadishu in 2011, Al-Shabaab continues to control territory in central and South Somalia. The group regularly launches attacks against military, government and civilian installations, notwithstanding the support of African peacekeepers propping up Somalia's weak internationally-backed central government.