Wednesday February 16, 2022
Explosions have rocked Somalia's capital Mogadishu with gunfire also reported as al Shabaab militants launched attacks on Wednesday.
The country's internal security minister said police stations and security check points were targeted during the eruption of violence.
Al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab, which aims to topple the central government and impose its severe interpretation of Islamic law, carries out frequent attacks against the government, including attacking a minibus carrying election delegates last week.
"The terrorists attacked the suburbs of Mogadishu and targeted our police stations and check points," Abdullahi Nor, the minister, wrote on Twitter.
"Our security defeated the enemy."
There were no immediate details on casualties and police will provide more details on the attacks, the minister said.
Last Thursday a suicide bomber targeting a minibus full of delegates involved in Somalia's parliamentary elections killed at least six people in Mogadishu, the ambulance service said, while Al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack.
The blast occurred early on Thursday while the vehicle was passing a busy junction on a road heading to the president's office in the capital of the East African nation.
Somalia's elections for lawmakers began on November 1 and were initially supposed to end on December 24, but are currently due to be completed on February 25.