1 dead, 9 wounded in southern Somalia bomb blast

By Mohammed Dhaysane

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AA) - At least one person was killed and nine others wounded in a bomb blast in southern Somalia on Tuesday.

A remote-controlled explosive device was detonated in the city center of Barawe, a port city in Somalia’s southern Lower Shabelle region, some 210 kilometers (130 miles) from the capital Mogadishu.

The death toll could rise further as Ismail Abdullahi, the city’s deputy mayor, told reporters that at least six people have suffered “life-threatening injuries.”

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack but officials believe it was likely carried out by the al-Shabaab terror group, which had control of the strategic port city for six years from 2008 to 2014.

The blast came hours after the Somali military announced it had killed at least 14 al-Shabaab terrorists, including an unnamed senior commander, in operations in Lower Shabelle.

Somalia has been grappling with increasing insecurity for years, with al-Shabaab being one of the main threats in the Horn of Africa country.

Since at least 2007, al-Shabaab has waged a deadly campaign against the Somali government and international forces that has claimed thousands of lives.

The United Nations has also warned of growing instability in the country, with its periodic reports on Somalia this year detailing attacks by al-Shabaab and pro-Daesh/ISIS groups.

There were at least 1,518 civilian casualties – 651 killed and 867 injured – in terrorist attacks in Somalia in 2018, followed by 1,459 – 591 killed and 868 injured – in 2019, according to the UN in Somalia.