Prime News Ghana

Seven die in Somali bomb attacks

By Vincent Ashitey
Al-Shabab frequently targets the military
Al-Shabab frequently targets the military
Shares
facebook sharing button Share
twitter sharing button Tweet
email sharing button Email
sharethis sharing button Share

At least seven people have died in two separate bomb attacks in southern and central Somalia.

Three militants blew up themselves up in a car at a military checkpoint in Galmudug state, killing three soldiers.

Separately, two bombs were detonated outside the home of a military official in Wanlaweyn, killing four people.

The Somali Islamist militant group al-Shabab has said it carried out the attack in Wanlaweyn, according to the Somali Memo news website.

No-one has come forward to say they were behind the attack in Galmudug.

In the suicide attack, militants set off a bomb when soldiers shot at the vehicle after its occupants ignored orders to stop at a military checkpoint in Bacadweyn town in central Somalia's Galmudug state, Maj Abdullahi Ahmed, a military officer in the nearby town of Galkayo told Reuters news agency.

Whilst in Wanlaweyn town, north-west of the capital Mogadishu, two bombs were planted in front of the house of a military official.

"First we heard a blast at the house. The military officer was absent by then. Guards and residents came to find out what caused the blast and then a second blast went off," Mohamed Nur, a police officer in Wanlaweyn, told Reuters.

Somalia has not had an effective national government for more than 20 years, during which much of the country has been a war-zone.

Al-Shabab is fighting to overthrow the government in the aim to reorder society in accordance with Islamic law, or Sharia.

Source: bbc