Car bomb blast near Somali Security Ministry wounds 2 journalists

By Mohammed Dhaysane

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AA) - Two Somali state media journalists were wounded when a car bomb blast targeted their vehicle near the country's Security Ministry building in the capital Mogadishu on Saturday, police said.

"The attack was a car bomb blast parked near the Security Ministry building in Mogadishu, targeting a vehicle carrying state media senior journalists, including veteran journalist Abdiaziz Afrika, who was seriously wounded," a police officer told Anadolu Agency over the phone after the attack.

The two journalists -- Abdiaziz Afrika and Sharmarke Warsame -- were traveling in the Shangani district when the explosion hit their vehicle. Police forces and paramedic crews were rushed to the scene, he added.

He said the police sealed the road leading to the headquarter of the country's national security and intelligence agency and the investigation into the attack is underway.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack but Somali-based al-Qaeda affiliated terrorist group al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the recent attacks in the Horn of African country.

The attack came a day after eight people were killed and over 13 others wounded in a bomb blast in the town of Berdale in Somalia’s South West State.

Al-Shabaab was behind two back-to-back attacks in Mogadishu earlier this month, one of which was a suicide bombing targeting a convoy of the African Union Mission in Somalia that killed three people and injured several more. Amid rising insecurity, Somali forces have ramped up operations against the group.