Al Shabab Strikes Again, Six Are Killed On Spot

Posted by: Kyeyune Andrew Jonathan in African News February 11, 2022

On February 10th, 2022 an Al Shabab suicide bomber targeted a minibus full of delegates involved in Somalia’s elections.

When he struck, he left six people dead and 12 others critically injured in Somalia’s capital of Mogadishu.

The al-Shabab armed group linked to Al Quaida has claimed responsibility for the attack that hit the vehicle that was passing a busy junction on a road heading to the president’s office.

The area fro which the bomb went off had a dense population according to a security guard identified as Abdullahi Muktar. He revealed that some of the victims, most of them civilians, were seriously wounded.

He however said investigations are still underway to determine what really caused the blast. However, it looked like someone carried it out.

Mogadishu’s Aamin Ambulance Service confirmed the fatalities in a statement sent to journalists. They said the attack had wounded 13 people but this could not be independently confirmed.

“The blast was huge, and I saw ambulances carrying wounded victims, some of them with serious injuries,” witness Mohamed Tahlil said.

A delegate on the bus identified as Saado Abdillahi said that all passengers sustained injuries.

“We were in the bus passing the junction and I could see someone running towards the bus and police shouting at him ‘stop’ at gunpoint,” he said.

The Al-Shabab, which aims to topple the central government and impose its own severe interpretation of Islamic law, claimed responsibility for the attack. The group claimed to have killed six delegates and five police officers.

Somalia’s elections for lawmakers began on November 1st 2021. They had planned to initially end it on December 24th.

However, they are currently due to be completed on February 25th. The attack on delegates may present an additional challenge to the election.

Many blame the months-long dispute between Somalia’s Prime Minister Mohammed Hussein Roble and his political rival President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed for the delayed parliamentary elections. So far, they have elected 124 of 275 lawmakers, according to data from the election commission.

The election impasse has worried Somalia’s international backers. They fear it distracts from the battle against al-Shabab, which has been fighting the weak central government for more than a decade.

Africn Union forces drove Al-Shabab fighters out of Mogadishu in 2011 after an offensive. However, they still control vast swathes of rural Somalia. This is where they frequently launch bombings and gun assaults in Mogadishu and elsewhere in Somalia.

They also carry out attacks against African Union peacekeeping troops, and in neighboring Kenya. This is in retaliation for the presence of its soldiers in the peacekeeping mission.

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