Al Shabaab Car Bomb Attacks UN Troops in Somalia, 8 Killed
PERMATA POSTS KIND,Jakarta – At least eight people were killed when a militant group launched a suicide attack on a UN security convoy in Mogadishu, Somalia using a vehicle laden with explosives, Thursday, November 25, 2021.
The al Shabaab group claimed responsibility for the massive explosion that rocked Modadishu and injured at least 23 people, including school students. Smoke rose above the city. Gunfire echoed around the scene, witnesses said.
It was not immediately clear whether any UN personnel were among those killed or injured in the massive explosion, which targeted a UN convoy as it passed near the site of a school.
UN officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
"We count eight dead and 17 others including 13 students injured," police spokesman Abdifatah Aden Hassan told reporters. He said a suicide bomber in an SUV loaded with explosives had targeted a UN security convoy.
The Aamin Ambulance Service evacuated at least 23 people injured in the blast, Abdikadir Abdirahman, director of the service, told Reuters.
Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab's military operations spokesman, confirmed that the militant group's operations had carried out the attack and said they were targeting a UN convoy.
The explosion near the K4 junction in the heart of Mogadishu was so large that the walls of the nearby Mucassar primary and secondary school collapsed. Cars were destroyed in the explosion.
"We were shaken by the pressure of the explosion, then deafened by the gunfire that followed," said Mohamed Hussein, a nurse at Osman Hospital near the site of the attack. He was hit by debris from the collapsed ceiling.
"The wall of our hospital fell down. Across from us was a school that also collapsed. I don't know how many died," he said.
Al Shabaab has been battling the Somali government for years, seeking to take power and impose a strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law.
The group carries out frequent bombings and gun attacks in Somalia and elsewhere in the war against the Somali military and the African Union-mandated AMISOM forces to help protect the government.