At least 11 people have been injured in a bomb explosion at a busy junction in Mogadishu on Wednesday, near buildings that house several government offices, reported Reuters. A plume of thick black smoke was seen over the city and witnesses said a number of vehicles were on fire.
“There was smoke and chaos along the road, the blast was very heavy and I was on my way to the location where it occurred,” said Shamso Ali, one of the witnesses. “Thanks to God I was a distance away but I saw the smoke and several vehicles caught on fire.”
Abdikadir Abdirahman, head of Aamin ambulance services, told Reuters that three of those wounded were women.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast.
Mogadishu is regularly attacked by Al-Shabab, which has fought for more than 10 years to topple the Somali government backed by the United Nations and African Union peacekeeping troops. The militant group controls parts of Somalia’s southern and central regions.
The powerful blast follows another massive car bombing in Mogadishu by Al-Shabaab Islamist militants that killed at least 90 people. Saturday’s attack was the biggest to hit Somalia since a truck exploded in 2017 near a fuel tanker in Mogadishu that killed over 500 people.
On Sunday, Al-Shabaab stormed a military base in Kenya’s coastal Lamu region killing three US citizens. Several aircraft and military vehicles were also destroyed. Earlier this month, five people were killed when the militants attacked a Mogadishu hotel.
The deadly attack comes at the time when Somalia is getting geared up for 2020 polls. The country has been facing violent conflict since 1991 after clan warlords ousted dictator Siad Barre and then against each other.
