By Spy Uganda Correspondent
Mogadishu: At least four people have been killed and nine others wounded after a suicide car bombing targeted a convoy carrying Mogadishu’s police chief, according to Somali officials.
Farhan Mohamud, the police commissioner survived Saturday’s blast, police spokesman Sadiq Aden Ali said in a statement.
“We confirm that four people including pedestrians died in the attack and nine others injured. Al-Shabab militants’ intention was to kill the commander, but he survived,” Sadiq said.
Al-Shabaab, which is linked to al-Qaida, has been fighting to overthrow Somalia’s federal government since 2007 and launches frequent attacks against the security forces as well as government and civilian targets.
The group claimed the attack saying they killed four police officers in the attack and injured five others adding that all of them were the police chief’s bodyguards.
According to reports, this was the second such large explosion in the city this month. A blast targeting a teashop killed at least 10 people last week. Last month, a suicide bomb attack at a military base in Mogadishu killed at least 15 people.
Al-Shabab which used to control parts of Mogadishu was pushed out of the seaside capital in 2011 by Somali troops backed by African Union soldiers.
The group still controls parts of the rural areas in the south and central Somalia and carries out frequent attacks in Mogadishu.
