Smoke rises from the scene of a suicide car bomb attack on a street in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu February 21, 2011. A suicide car bomber killed at least 12 people near a police training camp in Mogadishu today in what police said was an attack by rebels who profess loyalty to al Qaeda.
A suicide car bomber killed at least 17 people near a police training camp in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu today in what police said was an attack by rebels who profess loyalty to al Qaeda.
Al Shabaab has waged a three-year insurgency to topple the UN-backed interim government they consider a stooge of the West, restricting it to just a few blocks of Mogadishu.
Police say civilian casualties were high in the early morning strike on a busy main road that was aimed at Seredi, the police training camp about 500 metres from Mogadishu port.
“We cannot get the exact number of dead now. We are busy collecting flesh, and people are shocked here,” Hassan Ali, a police officer, told Reuters.
There were likely to be more casualties since fragments of the bomb, shrapnel and wrecked car parts were flung across the road and into various buildings and houses, police said.
Two vehicles with passengers headed for the port burst into flames and several residents fled in panic, police said. A donkey and its rider both lay dead and nearby houses made of iron sheets were destroyed.
Four of those killed were suicide bombers, two were police officers, and the rest were civilians, police said.
Ali said police shot at a speeding vehicle hurtling towards the gates of their training camp, before the explosion shook the area, covering it in flames and smoke.
“We believe Al Shabaab is behind this attack,” Ali said
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