Somalia: dead in a suicide bombing targeting Mogadishu police, and Al-Shabaab claims responsibility

The Somali authorities announced the deaths and injuries in a suicide bombing that targeted a police station in the capital, Mogadishu, late Sunday evening, while the Young Mujahideen Movement claimed responsibility for the attack.

“It was confirmed that 6 police officers were killed, including the Wabri district police chief, and 6 others were injured in the explosion,” Somali police commander Sadiq Aden Ali Dodishi said in a press conference.

The state TV quoted a security source as saying that a suicide bomber’s belt had an explosive belt that targeted the police station in the Wabri neighborhood overlooking the vital Mecca Street, killing 6 people, including the head of the police station, Ahmed Abdullah, his deputy, Abdul Basit Mahmoud, and 4 civilians. When 6 others, including policemen, were wounded.

On the other hand, Abdul Aziz Abu Musab, a spokesman for military operations in Al-Shabab, told Reuters on Monday, “Our goal was to kill the police commanders, and we killed 5 people, including the commander of the Wabri district police station.”

The bombing coincided with the evacuation of the Somali opposition forces of many of their positions in Mogadishu, as part of an agreement reached by the Somali Prime Minister, Mohamed Hassan Robli and the Council of Candidates’ Union to end the state of tension against the backdrop of the extension of the term of Somali President Muhammad Abdullah Farmajo for two years.