At Least Nine Killed, Several Others Injured in Twin Car Bomb Attacks in Central Somalia
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Somali security officials announced that at least nine civilians were killed, and several others injured in two simultaneous car-bombing attacks that took place in the early hours of Wednesday in the town of Mahas, in the Hiran region of central Somalia.
“The terrorists attacked Mahas town this morning using vehicles loaded with explosives,” a representative of local security forces told the media. “They have targeted a civilian area, and we have confirmed that nine people, all of them civilians, died in the two explosions.”
Witnesses said that the car explosions took place in front of a restaurant near a district administration building in Mahas. According to one witness, there were women and children among the nine victims, Sputnik reported.
The deadly attack was blamed on Al-Shabaab terrorist group, which has been fighting against the Somali government and terrorizing people since 2006.
The terrorist attack came as the country’s armed forces and troops of the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) have intensified military operations against the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabaab terrorist group.
The Somali Armed Forces managed to regain control over some strongholds of al-Shabaab in the south and central regions of the country, including in the Hiran region, where the Wednesday attack took place.
“The terrorists, after having (been) defeated, resorted to desperately targeting civilians, but this will not stop the will of the people to continue defeating them,” Osman Nur, a police commander in Mahas, said. “They have killed innocent civilians in the explosions.”
Over the past few weeks, the Al-Shabaab terrorist group suffered a series of defeats after the newly-elected government of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud declared an “all-out-war” against the terrorist group.
