Two car bombs exploded Saturday in Mogadishu at the Somali Ministry of Education, causing “victims” and causing serious damage to surrounding buildings, police and witnesses said. The two “simultaneous explosions” occurred on a road alongside the ministry and caused “several victims”, said Sadik Dudishe, spokesman for the Somali police. About three hours after the events, security sources indicated that the double car bomb attack had killed at least nine people.
Two explosions in the same area
One of the vehicles filled with explosives managed to enter the premises of the ministry, triggering a series of gunshots, said another policeman Ibrahim Mohamed. “A few minutes later another explosion occurred in the same area,” he added. According to a witness, Abdirahman Ise, there were many people on the road alongside the ministry at the time of the first explosion. “I saw a lot of smoke around the ministry and a lot of damage,” said another witness, Amino Salad.
This kind of attack – which was not immediately claimed – is generally attributed by the Somali authorities to jihadist Shebab militants who regularly carry out attacks in the capital and major cities of Somalia.
Shebab, perpetrators of several attacks in the country
The Islamist group, linked to Al-Qaeda, has been fighting the federal government supported by the international community since 2007. It was driven out of the main cities – including Mogadishu in 2011 – but remains firmly established in large rural areas, especially in the south of the country. Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack last week on a hotel in the port city of Kismayo that left nine dead and 47 injured.
In recent months, the Shebab have redoubled their activity in Somalia, a poor and unstable country in the Horn of Africa, with in particular a spectacular assault, lasting around thirty hours, at the end of August on a hotel in Mogadishu. After this attack which left at least 21 dead and 117 injured, President Hassan Cheikh Mohamoud promised a “total war” to eliminate the Shebab and called on the population to “stay away” from areas controlled by the Islamists who would be targeted by future offensives.
The security forces and local clan militias have notably launched military operations in the center of the country, which, according to the authorities, have made it possible to regain ground from Islamist fighters. In addition to the Shebab insurgency, Somalia is also threatened by an imminent famine, caused by the most severe drought observed for more than 40 years.
Across the country, 7.8 million people, nearly half of the population, are affected by the drought, of which 213,000 are in serious danger of starvation, according to the UN. Without urgent mobilization, a state of famine could be declared before the end of the year.