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Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Many people were wounded when a suicide car bomb on Tuesday exploded outside an African Union (AU) military camp in Mogadishu, officials and a witness said.
The attack -- one of the most serious against the AU force to date -- targeted a base housing mainly Burundian peacekeepers and responsibility was claimed by Islamist insurgents.
"The car attempted to smash through the gate... but it exploded before and there are many casualties, including AU peacekeepers," a Burundian officer from the AU force told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The spokesman for AMISOM -- the AU peacekeeping mission in Somalia -- also said the blast had caused casualties but could not immediately provide further details.
"We got information that there was an incident in the Burundi camp and there are casualties. I do not have details," Bahuko Baridgye told AFP.
One eyewitness counted at least nine wounded.
"I saw seven civilians and two Burundian soldiers wounded near the gate. It was a pick-up truck that exploded near the gate," Abdulkadir Ali Isaak said.
Responsibility for the attack was claimed by the Shebab, the military wing of the Islamic Courts Union which briefly controlled large parts of Somalia but whose political leadership was ousted by Ethiopian troops last year.
"It was a pick-up truck full of explosives and the attack was carried out by one of our mujahedeen (fighters)," top Shebab spokesman Mukhtar Robbow told AFP.
"It was a suicide car bomb targeting the African Union peacekeepers," he added.
Source: AFP, April 08, 2008