Two large explosions were reported at the entrance to the worldwide airport in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Tuesday, according to police, with at least three people killed. The group has been staging numerous attacks in Somalia in an attempt to create an Islamic state ruled by Sharia law.
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The explosions shattered windows in the nearby airport, Reuters reports.
Speaking on Radio Andalus, the terror group’s propaganda outlet, Al Shabaab spokesman Abdulaziz Abu Musab claimed responsibility for the attack and said the worldwide peacekeeping missions were targeted.
Seconds later another vehicle arrived and this time the suicide bomber detonated the auto close to security forces and nearby AU forces.
Abdisamad Hassan, a Somali Member of Parliament and former security minister, told Anadolu Agency via telephone that at least 14 people were killed in the attack and up to nine others were injured.
Writer and photographer Sakariye Cismaan, who lives in a residential zone close to the airport, said his house was covered in dust and from the explosion, and a small rock.
Kenyan police officers hold their position as residents watch during an operation against a suspected recruiter for the Somali militant group al Shabab at the Kapenguria police station in Kapenguria, western Kenya.
The attack was condemned by the African Union and the United Nations, which noted that none of its personnel were among the confirmed dead.
Local Somali news channels reported that the first bomb was detonated by a suicide attacker near one checkpoint.
The guards were caught in the blast as they escorted United Nations personnel into the base, which is known as Halane, he added.
“The overwhelming majority of Somalis have rejected such terrorist tactics and the use of violence to achieve political objectives”, he said.
AMISOM said on Twitter it condemned the “senseless attacks that aim to disrupt and cripple the lives of ordinary Somalis”.
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“These attacks must be stopped”, the mission said.
