Bomb blast kills senior police officer near Somali capital

By Mohammed Dhaysane

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AA) - A bomb blast, targeting a vehicle carrying security personnel, killed a senior Somali security official near the capital Mogadishu on Wednesday.

The bomb blast took place in the town of Afgooye, in the southwestern province of Lower Shabelle.

Afgooye is a strategic agricultural town located 30 kilometers (18 miles) from Mogadishu.

Mahamud Abdi, a security official in the region who spoke to Anadolu Agency over the phone after the attack said a remote-controlled landmine resulted in the blast that struck the security vehicle killing Mohamed Abdi Madoobe, a senior security officer.

Al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the bomb attack.

The attack came a day after Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, currently on an official visit to Türkiye, said his government is not ready to negotiate al-Shabaab.

Al-Shabaab has been fighting against the Somali government and African Union peacekeeping mission forces in Somalia for over a decade now.

Meanwhile, a peace activist, Hashi Omar, was killed in an explosion due to a bomb attached to his car, according to a police source. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

Hashi returned to Somalia in 2016 after he had spent 17 years in prison in Italy for the alleged 1994 murder of two Italian journalists Ilaria Alpi and Miran Hrovatin.