Somalia: Nine Killed in Car Bombings

By Staff, Agencies

Somalian reports announced on Wednesday that “At least nine people were killed, and several others wounded, in simultaneous car bomb attacks in a town in central the country.”

Local security official Abdullahi Adan stated that “The terrorists attacked Mahas town this morning using vehicles loaded with explosives,” noting that “They have targeted a civilian area and we have confirmed that nine people, all of them civilians, died in the two explosions.”

The attack, blamed on Al-Shabaab extremist militants, took place in the Hiran region of central Somalia, where a major offensive was launched several months ago against the Al-Qaeda- linked group.

“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,” said Osman Nur, a police commander in Mahas.

Witnesses said the blasts occurred near a restaurant not far from a district administration building in Mahas.

Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has declared “all-out war” against Al-Shabaab, which has been waging a bloody fight against the federal government for 15 years.