Briefing Room

Blast in Somali Capital Kills At Least 15

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Harun Maruf

WASHINGTON — A suicide car bombing in the Somali capital has killed at least 10 people and injured 18, according to witnesses and local officials.

Militant group al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s attack on a local administration building in the Wadajir district of Mogadishu.

A minibus laden with explosives hit the building at about 12:40 pm local time, as a group of youth and women activists were meeting inside.

Witnesses said the driver forced the vehicle through the gate of the building and then set off a massive explosion.

“He detonated it inside the building, there was one bomber,” says Abukar Sheikh Ahmed, deputy district commissioner, who survived the attack.““We lost several people, most of them were youth activists.”

District commissioner Omar Abdullahi Hassan, the head of the women’s organization, the leader of the youth group and the district’s secretary were all wounded.

Rescuers are using bulldozers in an attempt to find survivors and bodies among the rubble.

Al-Shabab has stepped up its suicide attacks in the capital this year. Last week, the group’s attack on two popular Mogadishu restaurants claimed the lives of 29 people.

The al-Qaida linked group has been fighting since 2006 to topple the Somali government and set up a strict Islamic state.

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