Car bomb targeting UAE officials kills 3 Somali soldiers in Mogadishu
MOGADISHU - Reuters
Soldiers patrol around the wreckage of a suicide car bomber that smashed into pickup truck carrying security officers, on June 24, 2015 in Mogadishu, in the latest in a string of attacks. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Somalia's Al-Qaeda linked Shebab carry out regular bombings and attacks in the troubled capital. AFP Photos
At least three people were killed when a car bomb targeting military trainers from the United Arab Emirates hit their convoy in the Somali capital but the officials were unharmed, police said on June 24.The Islamist militant group al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack and said it carried out the attack and "inflicted casualties" without giving details.
Hussein Afrah, a Somali military officer, said those killed were Somali soldiers.
"The car bomb targeted UAE trainers in a bulletproof car. They are all safe," captain Afrah told Reuters.
"The incident took place near the military hospital where UAE trains Somali military. Three Somali military who were on the military pick up died and several other civilians who were passing by were injured," he added.
In the past, al Shabaab has exaggerated the number of government members it has killed, while officials have played down losses.
Major Farah Abdikadir, a police officer, said seven people were wounded in the blast.
A Reuters witness saw the ruined car in which the bomb had been detonated, a damaged military pick up and a pool of blood.
On June 21, the group's fighters detonated a car bomb in the capital and shot their way into a national intelligence agency training site.
Four Islamist gunmen were killed, the internal security ministry said, adding that the government did not suffer any casualties during the attack. But the group's fighters said they had killed more than 10 intelligence officials.
An African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and Somali army offensive last year pushed al Shabaab out of major strongholds, but the group still controls some rural areas from where it launches regular attacks in Somalia and neighbouring Kenya, which also has forces with AMISOM.
On June 22 and 23, police said the group had killed six soldiers and an elder in separate incidents in the capital, the south central town of Beledweyne and the seaside town of Marka. Al Shabaab put the number of those killed at nine.