Attack on Somalia army training camp, 5 dead

At least five people have been killed and 11 injured in a bombing at the gate of a military training center in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. News Al Jazeera.

The country's army chief Doa Yusuf Rageh said that the attack took place at the entrance gate of the training camp on Saturday. The bomber's aim was to attack inside the training camp. But before he could enter, he detonated the bomb.

Another military official, Adan Yare, said the casualties included civilians and new recruits. Meanwhile, a local resident near the camp said that the army has surrounded the area. Several ambulances rushed to the spot and took out the casualties. However, it is not possible to say how many people have been killed. There was no official statement from the government regarding the attack. Al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack.  

Al-Qaeda affiliated armed group al-Shabaab has been fighting in Somalia for more than a decade. They want the fall of the central government of the country. Apart from this, it wants to establish its own rule based on the strict application of Islamic law. In 2011, African Union troops drove them out of the Somali capital.  

 

But al-Shabaab still controls large swaths of Somalia's countryside. They have stepped up attacks since President Hassan Sheikh Mahmud vowed an all-out war against al-Shabaab after he took power in May this year.

 

On Friday, Somalia's information ministry said the army had killed more than 100 al-Shabaab fighters in an operation in the country's Hirshabele state.