Saturday July 4, 2020
Police survey the scene after a suicide car bomber drove into a checkpoint near the port in Mogadishu. Photograph: Feisal Omar/Reuters
Explosions have rocked two of Somalia’s largest cities after a suicide car bombing near the port in Mogadishu and a land mine detonation on the outskirts of Baidoa killed four people.
Ali Abdullahi, an official from the South West regional state, said the mine was detonated inside a restaurant by remote control as people were dining. Several others were wounded, he said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the al-Shabaab group, which is linked to al-Qaida, has targeted the city in the past.
In Mogadishu, thick smoke billowed over the port area after the car bomb detonated near the motor vehicle imports duty authority headquarters, according to police.
The bomber sped through the first security checkpoint before police opened fire on the vehicle, which exploded outside the gates, said Ismail Mukhtar, a spokesman for Somalia’s information ministry. Five police officers were wounded.