Skip to main content

Suicide bombers kill 5 in Somalia

Two suicide attacks hit Somalia's Criminal Investigations Department (CID) in the capital city of Mogadishu on July 31, 2016. (Xinhua/Faisal Isse)

Two suicide attacks hit Somalia’s Criminal Investigations Department (CID) in the capital city of Mogadishu on July 31, 2016. (Xinhua/Faisal Isse)

At least five people were killed and several others were injured on Sunday in twin car bomb blasts at the headquarters of Somalia’s Criminal Investigations Department (CID) in the capital city of Mogadishu.

Police said the blasts hit the gate of the CID headquarters before militants stormed the building. Spontaneous gunfire could be heard.

The militant group Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the attack. The group, fighting against the Somali government, frequently stages attacks in Mogadishu.

“There were two huge bombings near Somali’s Criminal Investigations Department. I have seen black smoke rising from the place,” Jamal Omar, an eye witness, told Xinhua.

Two suicide attacks hit Somalia's Criminal Investigations Department (CID) in the capital city of Mogadishu on July 31, 2016. (Xinhua/Faisal Isse)

Two suicide attacks hit Somalia’s Criminal Investigations Department (CID) in the capital city of Mogadishu on July 31, 2016. (Xinhua/Faisal Isse)

The death toll could rise, Abdirashid Hamud, a police officer at the scene told Xinhua by phone. The CID headquarters is located alongside on a busy road.

Al-Shabaab, which literally means “The Youth” or “The Youngsters” in Arabic, is a terrorist group based in East Africa. The militant group battles with the U.N.-backed government in Somalia, and has carried out a string of attacks in neighboring Kenya.

Allied to al-Qaeda, the group has been pushed out of most of the main towns it once controlled, but it remains a potent threat to peace and stability in the region.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Court grants Fani-Kayode N50m bail

Fani-kayode sandwiched by EFCC officials Justice James Tsoho of the Federal High Court Abuja on Thursday granted a N50m bail to former spokesman of the Goodluck Jonathan Campaign Organisation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode. Fani-Kayode was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a five-count charge of money laundering to the tune of N26m. Fani-Kayode is the sole defendant in the fresh charges numbered, FHC/ABJ/CR/140/2016. The EFCC accused the defendant of diverting 26 million Naira allegedly received from the ONSA while Sambo Dasuki was in office. The anti-graft agency also accused him of handling the said N26 million without going through financial institution as required under the Money Laundering Act. The embattled former minister is already facing 17-count charge of money laundering before the Lagos Division of the court, along with a former Finance Minister; Nenadi Usman, Danjuma Yusuf and a firm; Joint Trust Dimension Nigeria Limited. They were charg...
Post a Comment
Read more

Pope not involved in Colombian peace deal- Vatican

Pope Francis Pope Francis has turned down a request to play a role in the peace deal between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebel group. The Vatican in a statement issued on Wednesday in in Vatican City said that an invitation was sent to his Holiness in early August to appoint a representative to participate in the committee that selected the judges for the talks. The statement said that though Pope Francis supported the peace process, he, however, reiterated that he would not get involved in Colombian peace deal. It said that Pope was praying for the enlightenment of the hearts and minds of those who were called to promote the common good of the Colombian nation. A deal was announced last week, putting an end to five decades of internal conflict between government forces and the FARC rebels. The agreement, which needed to be ratified through a referendum in Oct. 2, would entail setting up a special court to grant amnesties or pu...
Post a Comment
Read more

Man docked for defiling 9-year-old girl

magistrate-court A 33-year-old man, Godwin Otobo, was on Monday docked at a Surulere Chief Magistrates’ Court in Lagos.For allegedly defiling a nine-year-old girl, ‎Otobo, who lives at No. 10, Borrow Pit St., Sangotedo-Ajah area of Lagos, was said to have defiled the underage girl whose parents also reside in the same compound. The Prosecutor, Sgt. Anthonia Osayande, told the court that the accused committed the offence at about 9.00 p.m. sometimes in September. “The accused defiled the girl in the night when she was fetching water.‎ “The offence contravened Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011,’’ Osayande told the court. The accused pleaded not guilty to the one-count charge of defilement. Ruling on a bail application filed by the accused, Chief Magistrate Ipaye Nwachukwu, granted him bail in the sum of N500,000 with two sureties in like sum. She said one of the sureties must be a property owner in Lagos State, while the other must be a civil servant on grade...
Post a Comment
Read more