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SOMALIA-UNREST
Suicide bomb wounds Somali governor: official
MOGADISHU, March 30, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – A governor in Somalia’s Puntland was
seriously wounded Sunday in a suicide bomb attack, witnesses said, in an
attack claimed by the al-Shabaab jihadist group.
The attack on Abdisalan Hassan Hersi, governor of the Nugaal region,
happened in Puntland capital Garowe, said officials.
A former police commander and a civilian were also wounded in the blast,
and all three were being treated in hospital, Puntland’s interior minister,
Mohamed Abdirahman, told reporters.
Witnesses said the attacker ran at the vehicle in which he was travelling
before detonating his explosive vest.
“The governor and the former police commander were wounded seriously in the
blast, the police sealed off the area after the blast”, one witness, Adan
Suleyman, said.
Abdikarim Ahmed, another witness, said the bomber ran on to the vehicle of
the governor as he was parking near a police station before detonating his
device.
The jihadist Shabaab group claimed responsibility in a statement.
The al-Qaeda affiliated group was driven out of Mogadishu in 2011 and lost
most of their strongholds, but still control vast swathes of the countryside.
They have vowed to overthrow the internationally backed Somali government
and have carried out many attacks in the Somali capital.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0950 hrs