Suicide car bomb blast wounds seven in Somali capital

At least three people have been killed and eight others wounded after a car bomb exploded near a checkpoint close to the Somali parliament headquarters in the capital Mogadishu.

A security official and witnesses reported the explosion on Saturday as the explosive-laden vehicle passed through a security checkpoint causing security forces to open fire. The car exploded close to another checkpoint at the Sayidka junction, according to local media and police sources.

“The police were chasing the hostile vehicle after spotting it a few kilometres away from where it exploded,” security official Abdirahman Mohamed told the AFP news agency. “Three civilians died according to the information we have received so far and eight others are wounded,” he said.

“The police opened fire on the vehicle and chased it and this has allowed many people to flee away from [the] road. This has really limited the number of casualties the blast could have caused,” the official added.

Witnesses said they heard gunfire and saw vehicles and three-wheel tuk-tuks scatter before the heavy blast occurred.

“I was at a gym close to where the blast occurred, but thanks to God we have heard the gunshots before the blast. And this alerted many people including myself and we fled from the area to take cover before the vehicle reached the area of the explosion,” Dahir Osman, a witness, told AFP.

Sunday attack in Kenya 

On Sunday, three US citizens died and several aircraft and military vehicles were destroyed when Al Shabaab stormed a military base in Kenya’s coastal Lamu region.

Also Sunday, just hours after the attack, police arrested three men who tried to force their way into a British military training camp in the central Kenyan town of Nanyuki.

The al Qaeda-linked group al Shabaab has in the past carried out bloody sieges against civilians in Kenya, such as at the upmarket Westgate Mall in 2013 and Garissa University in 2015.

The uptick in attacks comes almost a year since the January 15 siege on an upscale Nairobi hotel which left 21 people dead.

In recent statements, al Shabaab has referred to an increase in US military air strikes under President Donald Trump, accusing Washington of killing innocent civilians.