Suicide Car Bombings In Central Somalia Kill 15 - Reports

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th January, 2023) At least 15 people were killed in two simultaneous suicide car bomb attacks in the Hiran region of central Somalia, Somalian media reported on Wednesday.

Local authorities believe that the bombings, which took place in the city of Mahas, targeted the houses of government officials in charge of counterterrorist operations in Hiran, the Garowe Online news website reported.

The initial reported toll of casualties on Wednesday morning was five people killed and 10 others injured, most of them civilians.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but local authorities and media blame it on al-Shabaab terrorist group (affiliated with al-Qaeda, both banned in Russia).

Al-Shabaab terrorists have been carrying out deadly strikes against government officials and African Union peacekeepers since 2007. Mahas is one of the areas where government and regional forces have pushed al-Shabaab out in recent months.

In August, Somalian President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud pledged "an all-out war" to destroy al-Shabaab in his first address to the nation after terrorists staged a deadly 30-hour siege of a hotel in Mogadishu, in which more than 20 people were killed and more than 100 were injured.