MOGADISHU (Reuters) – At least 10 people were killed on Saturday when a suicide bomber struck at shops in the Somali capital, killing hours after al-Shabaab militants attacked two national bases outside the city, the government said.
“A suicide bomber blew himself up under trees where poor mothers sold tea, milk and (anesthetic leaf) khat,” Information Ministry spokesman Ismail Mukhtar Omar told Reuters, adding more people were injured in the attack.
There was no immediate remark from the al Shabaab, who had earlier claimed responsibility for the attacks on the basis of the Bariire and Awdhigle armies.
The army had earlier said there were casualties on both sides, but he was now in control.
The bases, about 100 km southwest of Mogadishu, were hit by two explosions, witnesses said. A third blast was aimed at a convoy of troops who rushed to the bases after the attack, they added.
Militants of al Shabaab, linked to al-Qaeda, have carried out years of attacks and levied tolls on trade in a campaign to impose strict religious legislation.
Saturday’s attacks come amid growing fears that the group could exploit vulnerabilities that have arisen as a result of the failure to hold a parliamentary and presidential election, which would take place in February.
Hussein Nur, a military officer, said the army lost “several” soldiers during the attack on the bases, without giving an exact number.
The army sent in reinforcements from other stations that killed an unknown number of attackers in the ensuing battle, he told Reuters.
The army took control of both bases and the surrounding area and ‘We are pursuing the militants in the surrounding jungle’, he said.
Al Shabaab said he launched a suicide bombing at the Bariire base while attacking the nearby Awdhigle base simultaneously with a car bomb and fighters to prevent troops stationed there from reinforcing Bariire.
“We raided the Bariire base, burned three military vehicles and took two vehicles,” Abdiasis Abu Musab, al-Shabaab’s military operations spokesman, told Reuters, referring to a brief occupation of Bariire.
A third explosive device carrying the vehicle hit a convoy of government troops with reinforcements from Mogadishu. He also said both sides were killed in the attacks.
Report by Feisal Omar and Abdi Sheikh Written by Duncan Miriri Edited by Frances Kerry