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Terrorists have targeted the convoy of Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in a bomb attack while he was traveling through the capital, Mogadishu, the East African nation’s authorities reported.
The explosion on Tuesday morning resulted in the death and injury of civilians, the country’s Information Ministry said in a statement, without specifying the number of casualties. A Reuters reporter claims to have counted four bodies at the scene near the presidential palace. Local media reported that at least ten people were killed, including seven presidential guards who were part of the motorcade.
“Security forces are conducting a thorough investigation, and further details on casualties will be provided in due course,” the ministry stated, accusing the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Shabaab group of carrying out the attack.
President Mohamud’s office also announced in a post on X that he had arrived safely at the “front line district of Adan Yabal to lead and reinforce the ongoing offensive aimed at eradicating international terrorists.”
The incident comes one week after Al-Shabaab gunmen attacked a hotel in Beledweyne, central Somalia, where local leaders and government officials had met to plan an offensive against the terrorist organisation. The exact death toll remains unknown, but the group claims to have killed more than ten people.
“Our fighters targeted a convoy of vehicles carrying Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as they were leaving the presidential palace and heading to the airport,” Al-Shabaab said in a statement cited by Reuters, claiming responsibility for Tuesday’s assault.
Al-Shabaab frequently launches explosive and gun attacks on civilians and military infrastructure in an attempt to destabilize the Somali government and establish its own rule. The group was driven out of Mogadishu in 2011 by an African Union peacekeeping force, but it still controls some areas in the southern and central regions of the country.
The latest assault is not the first directly targeting the president. During his first term in 2012, suicide bombers and gunmen attacked the Jazeera Hotel near the airport in the capital, where Mohamud and dignitaries had convened. In 2014, Al-Shabaab militants raided the Somali presidential palace, killing at least a dozen people.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has “strongly” condemned Tuesday’s bombing and pledged “full solidarity and support” for the country’s fight against terrorism. —Somali Guardian.
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