 |
| Witnesses said the attackers opened fire before detonating a car bomb |
Witnesses told the BBC
that gunmen opened fire and detonated the bomb on a busy main road.
Many others were
injured, most of them civilians.
It is not clear who was
behind the blast, but the Islamist militant group al-Shabab has carried out
several attacks on the same road in the past few weeks.
Witnesses said
Saturday's attack began when gunmen opened fire on a Somali government
official's car, sparking a gun battle with his security escort.
"There was a
drive-by shooting attack... then a car loaded with explosives was detonated
after police reinforcements arrived," a police official told AFP.
"The gunmen riding
in a car attacked the official and there was [an] exchange of gunfire... then
there was a huge blast," said Abdi Mudey, who was near the scene.
Witnesses described
seeing part of a supermarket and several cars destroyed by the blast.
Husayn Ali Wehliye, a
regional governor, escaped with minor injuries, local media reported.
Al-Shabab ruled much of
Somalia until 2011, when it was driven out of Mogadishu by African and Somali
troops.
CREDIT: BBC
No comments:
Post a Comment