At least 1 killed, 2 wounded as bomb blast hits teashop in Somalia

By Mohammed Dhaysane

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AA) – At least one person was killed and two others wounded when a bomb blast hit a teashop in northeastern Somalia on Wednesday, local media reported.

According to Somali National Television (SNTV), a police officer was among those injured in the explosion in Bosaso, the provincial capital of the Bari region.

A local police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity told Anadolu Agency over the phone that the bomb was planted by al-Shabaab terrorists.

The targeted teashop was frequented by locals and security forces, according to Bosaso residents who spoke to Anadolu Agency via phone.

Bosaso is a port city 1,414 kilometers (878 miles) northeast of the Somali capital Mogadishu.

Al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack via radio Andalus.

It also claimed the blast killed Mohamed Bahwal, a Wardheer district commissioner.

The group also said that it attacked Wednesday a convoy of the African Union peacekeeping mission forces in Somalia in the village of Bufow, lower Shabelle region, killing at three Ugandan troops and wounded two others. There has been no immediate comment from the peacekeeping mission on the al-Shabaab claim.

Al-Shabaab was also behind a 2017 truck bomb attack in Mogadishu that took 600 lives -- the worst terror attack in the country’s history.