Six people have been killed, nine others injured in a suicide car bomb attack at the Ceelasha Biyaha checkpoint near Somalia’s capital city of Mogadishu, the Somali National News Agency (SONNA) reported Saturday.
The attack was organized by militants of al-Shabaab radical group, SONNA reported, adding that the explosion also caused property damage, including houses near the area.
Similarly, in late September, a suicide bomber packed a truck with explosives and blew it up at a border checkpoint in the central Somalian city of Beledweyne. The bombing was the deadliest terrorist attack in the country this year, killing 32 people and injuring dozens.
On September 22, the Somali government asked the AU peacekeeping mission (ATMIS) to postpone its withdrawal for three months due to "several significant setbacks".
In accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 2670, which directs the mission to transfer security responsibilities in agreed areas to Somali security forces, ATMIS completed the first phase of its drawdown in Somalia by the end of June this year, withdrawing 2,000 peacekeepers and handing over six bases to Somali forces. By the end of September, ATMIS was to have withdrawn another 3,000 troops.
* al-Shabaab, al-Qaeda are terrorist groups banned in Russia and many other countries.