Somalia: Bomb blast targets local district commissioner

By Mohammed Dhaysane

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AA) - A landmine explosion in the Somali capital targeted a local district commissioner in the second bomb blast in Mogadishu city on Sunday, police said.

The roadside mine targeted a convoy carrying Ahmed Abdullahi Ariif, the commissioner of the Yaaqshiid district, while traveling to the Darusalam village area in Mogadishu, local police officer Abdifatah Hassan told Anadolu Agency over the phone.

"As far as we know, commissioner Ariif and other officials in the convoy escaped unhurt but it is early to say how many people were killed or wounded," he said.

This followed a similar roadside explosion in the capital that targeted a senior military official less than five hours earlier, killing three people including two soldiers.

The Somali-based al-Qaeda-affiliated group al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for that attack.