18 killed as 2 blasts, gunfire rock Somalia’s capital
MOGADISHU, Somalia — Two car bomb blasts in Somalia’s capital killed at least 18 people on Friday and shattered a months-long period of calm in Mogadishu, which is often the target of attacks by the al-Shabab extremist group.
The explosions came a day after Somalia’s interior minister warned of an explosives-laden vehicle somewhere in the capital.
The first blast occurred near the country’s intelligence headquarters, police Capt. Mohamed Hussein told The Associated Press. He said the second occurred near parliament’s headquarters, where the vehicle had tried to speed through a checkpoint before security forces engaged with the gunmen suspected of trying to attack the presidential palace.
The Aamin Ambulance service ferried 18 bodies and another 20 injured people after the blasts, director Abdirahman Abdulqadir told the AP.