Somalia: Double suicide blasts kill 14 people

By Mohammed Dhaysane

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AA) - At least 14 people were killed and more than 20 wounded when double suicide blasts rocked southwestern Somalia on Saturday, authorities said.

Two men wearing suicide vests separately targeted the busy Bilan hotel and Badri restaurant in the city of Baidoa in the southwestern Bay region, Abdi Mohamed Ali, a police captain in Baidoa, told Anadolu Agency on the phone.

Most of the 14 casualties were civilians, he added.

Ugas Hassan Ibrahim, Bay’s information minister, told reporters that over 20 wounded people were rushed to the Baidoa Regional Hospital.

Somali-based insurgent group al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack via the Internet, saying that it had targeted local officials.

The attack comes a year after Somalia's biggest attack in the capital Mogadishu which killed more than 400 people.