Bomb blasts in Somalia near Turkish Embassy

MOGADISHU

Somalian government members walk past the wreckage of a suicide bomb explosion. AFP photo

A suicide bomber blew himself up in central Mogadishu near the Turkish Embassy after being stopped by police while driving yesterday, killing two soldiers and wounding at least four civilians, a security official said.

“A man was detained by soldiers driving a car we believed was full of explosives, but when the soldiers told the driver to open the car, he detonated explosives on his body,” said government security official Abdi Hashi. “It killed two soldiers and the bomber died too, while the explosion wounded four civilians.” Smoke was seen rising from the blast near an old cinema between the Turkish Embassy and the Kilometer 4 (K4) junction, a busy intersection in Mogadishu’s administrative district. No Turkish officials from the embassy were hurt.

Gunfire could be heard in the immediate aftermath of the explosion, and ambulances streamed through the streets. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, the latest in a string of blasts including roadside bombs and grenade explosions to rock the Somali capital in recent weeks. The suicide attack applies yet more pressure on a government that relies on African troops to support it and controls little of the country where it is fighting an Islamist insurgency.

Compiled from Reuters and AA stories by the Daily News staff.