5 killed, 23 injured after huge explosion rocks Somalia capital

At least five people were killed and 23
injured after a car exploded at the heart of Somalia capital Mogadishu on
Thursday. A plume of smoke rose from the blast site amid gunfire, Reuters
reported.

“So far we know five people died and 23
others (were) injured,” Abdikadir Abdirahman, the director of Aamin Ambulance
services, told Reuters.

Terrorist group al Shabaab, based out of
Somalia, claimed the responsibility for carrying out the attack which was
targeting a passing United Nations convoy, Abdiasis Abu Musab, the group’s
military operations spokesman told Reuters.

Huge blast deafened ears

The explosion was so huge that walls of
nearby Mucassar primary and secondary school collapsed and left cars mingled.

“We were shaken by the blast pressure, then
deafened by the gunfire that followed,” said Mohamed Hussein, a nurse at the
nearby Osman Hospital.

He had been pulled from the rubble of a
collapsed ceiling, Hussein added.

“Our hospital walls collapsed. Opposite us
is a school that also collapsed. I do not know how many died,” he said.

However, Somalia’s security establishment
could not be immediately reached for comment.

Al Shabaab has been targeting the Somalia
government for several years to dethrone the elected government in order to
establish its own rule based on its strict interpretation of Islam’s sharia
law.

The group frequently carries out bombings
and gun assaults in Somalia and elsewhere in its war against the Somalia
military and the African Union-mandated AMISOM force that helps defend the
central government.

Journalist killed four days back 

Four days back al Shabaab killed a
prominent Somali journalist in Mogadishu. Abdiaziz Mohamud Guled, also known as
Abdiaziz Afrika, was a vocal critic of the Islamist militant group. He was
killed in a suicide bomb attack.

The bomber detonated a device in front of a
car near the restaurant where Guled was accompanied by the director of Somali
National Television and a driver, according to a report published on the
official Radio Mogadishu website, citing police sources.