Two auto bombs in Mogadishu, Somalia, killed 13 people on Tuesday, in an attack that has been claimed by the Islamist militant group al-Shabab, The Associated Press reports.
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The nationalities of those killed have not been confirmed.
“The two explosions were carried out by two courageous Mujahideen suicide bombers who targeted two places where the alleged peacekeeping troops are based”, the group said.
A second suicide blast targeted a checkpoint manned by Somali security forces near the African Union base in Mogadishu, said Hussein.
The group’s radio station released an audio message purportedly recorded a few hours before the former MP carried out the attack, in which he is heard announcing an imminent suicide strike.
“Al Shabab is desperately seeking relevance and will do anything to keep in the news headlines”, the AU Special Representative for Somalia, Ambassador Francisco Caetano Madeira, said in a statement.
The Somali government, with the help of African Union forces, is fighting al-Shabab militants in several parts of the country.
“The overwhelming majority of Somalis have rejected such terrorist tactics and the use of violence to achieve political objectives”, he said. There was no immediate comment from the United Nations. The Horn of Africa nation is due to hold limited franchise elections later this year.
Residents in the area reported hearing two massive explosions just around 9 a.m. local time. The bombings were condemned by AMISOM, the AU peacekeeping mission, as “senseless attacks that aim to disrupt and cripple the lives of ordinary Somalis”.
Somali soldiers pass near the wreckage of a vehicle bomb outside the UN’s office in Mogadishu on July 26, 2016. The driver was stopped by security guards but succeeded in detonating the auto bomb.
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A suicide bomber firstly tried to ram his explosive-laden truck into African Union Headquarters, followed by a auto bomb in front of Mine Action offices inside the heavily fortified airport.
