Bomb attack strikes local government office in Mogadishu — police
At least six people were killed after a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle outside the compound of a district headquarters in Somalia's capital.
Smoke rises from the site of a blast in Mogadishu, Somalia, September 2, 2018 in this still image obtained from a social media video.
At least six people were killed when a suicide car bomb struck a local government office in central Mogadishu on Sunday, destroying the building and a religious school opposite.
Militant group Al Shabab said it was behind the attack on Hawlwadag district office, which also blew off the roof of a mosque and damaged houses nearby.
TRT World's Arabela Munro reports.
At least six people had been killed, including soldiers, civilians and the suicide bomber, and a dozen injured, according to police officer Mohamed Hussein.
The school was open but at the time of the blast most children were away from the building on a break.
Earlier the director of the Amin ambulance service told Reuters that at least 14 people had been were injured, including six children.
People look at debris at the site of a blast in Mogadishu, Somalia, September 2, 2018 in this still image obtained from a social media video.
A Reuters journalist on the scene saw a human hand and blood stains in the rubble as people searched for survivors.
Abdiasis Abu Musab, Al Shabab’s military operations spokesman, said the group had carried out the attack.
"We are behind the suicide attack. We targeted the district office in which there was a meeting. We killed 10 people so far, we shall give details later."
Somalia has been wracked by lawlessness and violence since 1991. Militant group Al Shabab is fighting to dislodge a Western-backed government protected by African Union-mandated peacekeepers.
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