Car bomb attack near Somali parliament kills scores

The explosion outside the Wehliye hotel followed only hours after a separate would-be bomber was shot and killed outside a military base.

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab

13 March, 2017

The first explosion targeted the Jazeera military base near Mogadishu [Anadolu]

Two car bombs killed at least ten people and wounded eight others in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, on Monday morning.

A second explosion targeted the Wehliye Hotel on Maka al-Mukaram street, near the Parliament, hours after a separate attack on a military base in the city’s south.

Somalia's fisheries minister, Mohamed Omar Aymoy, was reported at the scene of the explosion and his two bodyguards were injured.

Witnesses reported seeing dead bodies lying in the road and graphic scenes of devastation.

Earlier in the day, a minibus exploded at a military checkpoint in the Wadajir district, injuring three people.

A police officer fired on the minibus as it accelerated at the checkpoint, killing the driver and triggering the explosion.

“A policeman at a check-point shot at the speeding mini-bus. It exploded and killed the al Shabaab fighter that drove it," police officer Nur Osman told Reuters, referring to the militant group responsible for the vast majority of suicide attacks in the country.

It is not currently known if al-Shabaab were behind the attacks as no party has claimed responsibility.

Somalia elected a new president in February who promised to end the ongoing conflict with al-Shabaab and return security to the Horn of Africa.

"To those who work with al-Qaeda, al-Shabaab and IS (Islamic State), your time is finished," said President Farmaajo at his inauguration.