The second bomb was detonated at a checkpoint manned by Somali troops, near the United Nations headquarters, security official Mohamed Hassan said. The nationalities of the killed have not been confirmed.
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The large airport area in Mogadishu is a secure “green zone” for United Nations operations, the 22,000-strong African Union peace force and foreign embassies.
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.
“Al-Shabab is desperately seeking relevance and will do anything to keep in the news headlines”, the African Union special representative for Somalia, Ambassador Francisco Caetano Madeira, said in a statement.
Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack. “The overwhelming majority of Somalis have rejected such terrorist tactics and the use of violence to achieve political objectives”.
The terror group has been blamed for attacks in Somalia and neighboring countries targeting worldwide peacekeepers, aid workers and journalists, as well as soft targets such as schools and churches. “I spoke with a friend who works at the airport”.
Residents in the area reported hearing two massive explosions just around 9 a.m. local time.
“These attacks must be stopped”, the mission said.
A suicide attacker set of a auto bomb near an African Union peacekeeping base in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu on Tuesday, near the city’s airport, police said.
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Somali soldier stand near the wreckage of a vehicle bomb outside the UN’s office in Mogadishu, Somalia, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. The driver was stopped by security guards but succeeded in detonating the auto bomb.
