Thursday March 1, 2018
FILE PHOT
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - A mortar
attack in the Somali capital Mogadishu, claimed by Islamist group al
Shabaab, killed three civilians and injured two others on Thursday, the
African Union peacekeeping force AMISOM said.
The mortar rounds were fired near a stadium, Lieutenant Colonel Wilson Rono, AFRICOM spokesman, told Reuters.
Earlier
on Thursday, al Shabaab militants set off a suicide car bomb at a
checkpoint about 15 km (nine miles) outside the capital. At least five
people were injured including soldiers, police officer Ali Roble told
Reuters. A second police officer, Abdullahi Nur, told
Reuters that many vehicles had been parked at the checkpoint for
inspection when the blast occurred.
Al Shabaab
frequently carries out bombings in Mogadishu and elsewhere in Somalia in
their effort to bring down the Western-backed federal government and
drive out the AMISOM forces defending it.
On Friday, twin car bomb blasts in Mogadishu - claimed by al Shabaab - killed 45 people.
Abdiasis
Abu Musab, al Shabaab’s military operations spokesman, told Reuters the
group was responsible for both the mortar attack and the car bombing.
Reporting by Feisal Omar and Abdi Sheikh; Writing by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Louise Ireland