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A suicide attack in Mogadishu by the jihadist group Al Shabab killed at least eight people and injured several. This attack adds to the spiral of violence that the country has suffered for decades.
This Wednesday, January 12, a suicide car bomb attack in Mogadishu, Somalia, killed at least eight people, while at least nine others were injured. This was announced by the local police.
The attack took place in the Waberi district, on the so-called October 21 Highway, near the Aden Adde International Airport.
Abdikadir Abdirahman, director of the Aamin ambulance service, explained to the Reuters agency that “a car bomb targeted a convoy, including bulletproof cars that used the Avisione street,” but that “it is not yet known who owns the convoy”.
Witnesses initially pointed out that the target of the attack was a United Nations convoy, the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM). However, the NGO reported on its Twitter account that “there were no UN personnel or contractors in the convoy attacked.”
Abdirahman added that “we took eight people dead from the scene,” compared to the “eleven confirmed dead” that policeman Farhan Ahmed Nur recorded.
Mogadishu Deputy Mayor Ali Abdi Wardhere said the victims of the attack included “five soldiers and five other civilians.”
The jihadist group Al Shabab, affiliated with the terrorist network Al Qaeda since 2012, claimed responsibility for the attack.
The incessant terrorist attacks in Somalia
Al Shabab is an organization that controls rural areas of central and southern Somalia, in order to establish an ultra-conservative Islamic State in this country. The jihadist group frequently carries out attacks in high-profile locations in Mogadishu.
The bloodiest attack by Al Shabab took place in October 2017. More than 500 people lost their lives.
The African country has suffered a spiral of violence since 1991, when the dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown by Islamist militias and warlords.
With AP, EFE and Reuters
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