MOGADISHU, Somalia – On Saturday, a wave of bombings rocked Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, and the Middle Shabelle region, tragically resulting in the deaths of six individuals and injuries to ten others, according to police and eyewitness accounts.
The culprits behind the attacks were not immediately identifiable, but the militant group al Shabaab, notorious for its frequent bombings and gun assaults in Mogadishu and across the Horn of Africa, remains a key suspect.
One of the blasts in Mogadishu was attributed to a car rigged with explosives, which was left on a thoroughfare near the National Theatre, approximately one kilometer from the president’s office.
When the car bomb exploded, it killed five people and injured seven, according to a policeman on site who asked to remain anonymous as he wasn’t authorized to speak to the press. These casualty numbers were corroborated by another officer present.
Efforts to reach a police spokesperson for an official comment by Reuters went unanswered.
In a distinct but equally grim incident, a bomb planted in a livestock market in Jowhar city, within the Middle Shabelle region, claimed one life and wounded three civilians. Bashir Hassan, the Jowhar police commander, detailed the incident during a press conference.
For years, al Shabaab has been relentlessly striving to overthrow Somalia’s central government in favor of imposing its austere version of Islamic sharia law.
