The explosion, one of a string of recent attacks, comes as the country grapples with a political standoff and a growing humanitarian crisis.
A large explosion killed at least eight people and injured nine others in Mogadishu on Wednesday, according to the head of an ambulance service, the latest attack to hit Somalia’s capital as the country grapples with political infighting and a growing humanitarian crisis. The car explosion occurred just before noon on a road leading to Mogadishu’s international airport, according to Abdulkadir Adan, the founder of the ambulance service, Aamin Ambulance, Mogadishu’s only free ambulance service. The road also services a major police academy and a compound where United Nations and foreign government staff members and officials live. The bombing, part of a string of attacks blamed on the Qaeda-linked Al Shabab extremist group that have gripped Somalia in recent months, comes as the country’s leaders struggle to resolve a political crisis that has distracted the government from the deteriorating security situation. Somali Memo, a news website affiliated with Al Shabab, said the militants claimed responsibility for the attack on Wednesday. It said the group had targeted “a convoy of vehicles carrying white security officers.” Mohamed Ibrahim Moalimuu, a government spokesman, condemned what he described as a suicide attack, calling it “cowardly.” “Such acts of terrorism will not derail the peace & the ongoing development in the country,” he wrote on Twitter. “We must unite in the fight against terrorism.” Details about how the attack was conducted were not immediately available. The spokesman for the Somali police did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
