Islamist car bomb attack kills at least eight in Somalia, officials say

Record ID: 1647912

  • Title: Islamist car bomb attack kills at least eight in Somalia, officials say
  • Date: 25th November 2021
  • Summary: MOGADISHU, SOMALIA, (NOVEMBER 25, 2021) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF DAMAGED MUCASSAR PRIMARY SCHOOL, WHICH WAS HIT BY BLAST / PEOPLE GATHERED ON STREET PEOPLE WALKING, CARRYING LADDERS BULLDOZER DRIVING VEHICLE PARKED ON STREET / PEOPLE HELPING TO CLEAR DEBRIS PEOPLE GATHERED BY DAMAGED SCHOOL / BULLDOZER DRIVING VEHICLES ON THE STREET / PEOPLE GATHERED EXTERIOR OF DAMAGED SCHOOL
  • Embargoed: 9th December 2021 09:06
  • Keywords: Car bomb Mogadishu Somalia blast
  • Location: MOGADISHU, SOMALIA
  • City: MOGADISHU, SOMALIA
  • Country: Somalia
  • Topics: Africa,Bombing (non-military),Conflicts/War/Peace
  • Reuters ID: LVA001F53JL1J
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:At least eight people were killed in Somalia's capital on Thursday (November 25) when Islamist militants launched a suicide attack on a U.N. security convoy using a vehicle laden with explosives, officials and witnesses said.
    The Islamist group al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the huge blast which rocked Mogadishu and injured at least 23 people, including school students, sending a column of smoke above the city. Gunfire echoed around the scene, witnesses said.
    It was not immediately clear if any U.N. personnel were among those killed or injured in the huge blast, which targeted the U.N. convoy as it passed near the site of a school.
    U.N. officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
    Aamin Ambulance service evacuated at least 23 people who were injured in the blast, Abdikadir Abdirahman, the director of the service, told Reuters.
    Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab's military operations spokesman, confirmed the Islamist group's operatives had carried out the attack and said they were targeting a U.N. convoy.
    The blast near the K4 junction in the heart of Mogadishu was so large that walls of the nearby Mucassar primary and secondary school collapsed. Cars were mangled in the explosion.
    Al Shabaab has been fighting Somalia's central government for years, seeking to take power and impose its strict interpretation of Islam's sharia law.
    The group frequently carries out bombings and gun assaults in Somalia and elsewhere in its war against the Somalia military and the African Union-mandated AMISOM force that helps protect the government.
    (Production: Nazanine Moshiri. Abdirahman Hussein, Hannah Ellison)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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