The remains of a burning vehicle are seen in the street after a suicide attack yesterday. The car bomb went off outside Mogadishu airport, killing at least four members of the Somali security force and wounding several others, officials and witnesses said.
At least six people were killed yesterday in a suicide car bomb attack targeting a United Nations convoy close to Mogadishu’s heavily-fortified international airport, officials said.
Somalia’s Al Qaeda-linked Shebaab rebels, who are fighting to overthrow the country’s internationally-backed government, told AFP that one of their suicide bombers carried out the attack.
The bomb went off near a checkpoint at the entrance to the airport complex, which also houses the base of AMISOM – the African Union force fighting Shebaab rebels – as well as a number of foreign diplomatic missions and United Nations offices.
A statement from UNSOM, the UN mission in Somalia, said that the bomb went off near a convoy of UN vehicles shortly after midday.
“A UN car was damaged but no UN staff were injured. Four Somali security escorts were lightly injured,” UNSOM said, expressing “deep sorrow at the reported deaths and injuries of Somali bystanders”.
Police and witnesses said that the victims included Somali guards, passers-by and shop owners.
“A car laden with explosives was remotely exploded in front of a tea shop just outside the airport,” senior police official Colonel Abdikadir Ahmed said.
“At least six people, most of them civilians, died in the car bomb explosion. There are many casualties, serious injuries. We are still investigating the incident, the toll could rise,” another Somali police official, Said Mohamed, told AFP.
A Shebaab spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack by a suicide bomber, and that “three UN white men” – a reference to foreigners – were killed in the blast along with 13 Somali soldiers guarding the officials.
“This was an operation carried out by Shebaab. It was a brother who took a sacrificial act to defend the people of Somalia,” Shebaab military spokesman Sheikh Abdul Aziz Abu Musab told AFP. “The target was a UN convoy.”
Another witness told an AFPTV journalist at the scene that as many as 14 people were killed and saw six others being taken away to hospital.
An AFP photographer saw the burning wreckage of a vehicle and several destroyed shops.
“I saw and counted at least 14 people, including women working small restaurants, who were killed and also I saw six wounded people,” said one eyewitness, Mohamed Abdi.
“The bomb inflicted more casualties on the people at shops and small restaurants,” said another witness, Mahad Kuuriya.
The airport is considered to be among the safest parts of Mogadishu, and is ringed by checkpoints and large numbers of armed guards.
The airport, which is often compared to the Green Zone in Baghdad, has several safety perimeter fences and checkpoints, and houses the newly-built British embassy along with a large UN compound.
Many diplomats live in Nairobi as it is not safe to stay in Mogadishu, and when they visit Somalia do not venture outside the airport.
Britain’s Ambassador to Somalia Neil Wigan, whose embassy is within the high-security airport complex, said he had heard a “major explosion” that sent smoke into the air.
The attack comes amid an apparent upsurge of Shebaab bombings in and around Mogadishu. Earlier this week the group carried out twin bombings inside the city, targeting government officials.
The Shebaab once controlled most of southern and central Somalia but withdrew from fixed positions in the ruined coastal capital two years ago.
African Union troops – including large contingents from Uganda, Kenya and Burundi – have since recaptured every major insurgent bastion and tried to prop up Somalia’s fledgling government forces.
But a string of devastating Shebaab attacks against foreign and government targets have shattered hopes of a rebirth for the war-ravaged capital and demonstrated that the Islamist outfit’s disruptive power was undiminished.
One Western diplomat said the nature of the attack showed security remained a major problem in the capital, where Shebaab the previous night fired mortar rounds at the presidential palace.
“It shows (Shebaab) can strike at will, including right in front of the airport,” the diplomat said of the car bomb. “We expect more attacks.”
