Two explosions rock Somalia’s capital, leaving “scores” dead
At least 10 people were killed and two injured after explosions rocked the city of Mogadishu on Thursday. A man accused of orchestrating the attacks was killed and a court ordered his arrest.
A resident of Mogadishu walks through the street after a terrorist attack occurred in the city of Mogadishu, in Somalia, on October 10, 2019.
AFP
At least four bombs exploded in Somalia, with an American woman among the dead and two injured.
“We have confirmed that four separate bomb attacks, two in the Shabab hide-outs and the other two in the centre of the city of Mogadishu have killed at least 10 lives,” said Mohamed Sheikh Aden, spokesman for the U.N. mission in Somalia.
The blasts were detonated outside the city’s police and military headquarters, just across the street from a local hotel, and in a mall in the city centre.
U.N. officials say two children were among those killed.
“I was sitting in my car with my two children and my husband when two bomb blasts went off,” said Abdiqadir Abdulkadir, a shopkeeper who was at the mall with his wife.
“I lost two of my children. They were about three and six,” he added.
U.N. officials confirmed the identities of four of the dead but did not reveal the names of the other two.
Aden confirmed that a man accused of orchestrating the attacks on Wednesday was killed in a shootout with authorities.
The U.S. and Somali authorities named him as Ahmed Mire, 28.
He was not immediately arrested, and his relatives said they had no contact with him.
Somalia, once one of Africa’s most stable countries, has been wracked by militant violence for decades. It has seen years of conflict and instability as the warring factions struggle for control of the country’s north and south.
The attacks came as the U.N. Security Council condemned
