Somali militants kill five with car bomb in Mogadishu
Wed Oct 15, 2014 8:21pm GMT
(Adds al Shabaab claim of responsibility, background)
By Feisal Omar
MOGADISHU Oct 15 (Reuters) - At least five people were killed and several
wounded when a car bomb planted by Islamist militant group al Shabaab
exploded near restaurants on a busy street in the Somali capital on
Wednesday.
Al Shabaab, which wants to topple the government it says is a puppet of
Western powers, has frequently launched bomb and gun attacks in Mogadishu
and promised more attacks after losing control of a major coastal stronghold
this month.
"We heard a huge blast followed by gunfire," said Ahmed Idris who was near
the Village Market restaurant close to the blast. A tea shop and a pharmacy
bore the brunt of the damage.
Idris said several mortar shells landed in the area just before the blast.
Colonel Ahmed Abdullahi, a senior police officer, told Reuters five
civilians were killed and seven wounded people were taken to hospital.
Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab's military operations spokesman, said:
"We were behind the blast at the tea shop. We targeted and killed many of
the security officers and presidential palace workers who sit there."
The presidential palace is less than a kilometre away from the site of the
blast.
Al Shabaab also claimed responsibility for Sunday's attack on the Oromo
restaurant in which at least seven people were killed. Musab said it was
"because it belonged to Ethiopia. Workers of the Ethiopian Embassy sat
there."
Ethiopian troops are part of an African Union (AU) mission fighting al
Shabaab inside Somalia. Al Shabaab aims to drive out the AU peacekeepers who
provide the backbone of security as the Somali army is rebuilt.
Al Shabaab has been steadily driven out of towns in its heartland of south
and central Somalia by a military offensive of African and Somali troops. On
Oct. 5, the group lost control of Barawe port, which offered a conduit for
arms imports. (Additional reporting by Abdi Sheikh; Writing by Drazen
Jorgic; Editing by Janet Lawrence)