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Three killed in Mogadishu car bomb
MOGADISHU, Feb 13, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – At least three people were killed and
eight others wounded after a car bomb detonated near a security checkpoint
along a key road in Mogadishu Saturday, security official and witnesses said.
“The police were chasing the hostile vehicle after spotting it a few
kilometres away from where it exploded. Three civilians died according to the
information we have received so far and eight others are wounded,” security
official Abdirahman Mohamed told AFP.
“The police opened fire on the vehicle and chased it and this has
allowed many people to flee away from road. This has really limited the
number of casualties the blast could have caused,” he added.
Witnesses said they heard gunfire and saw vehicles and three-wheel tuk-
tuks scatter before the heavy blast occurred.
“I was at a gym close to where the blast occurred, but thanks to God we
have heard the gunshots before the blast. And this alerted many people
including myself and we fled from the area to take cover before the vehicle
reached the area of the explosion,” Dahir Osman, a witness said.
“The blast was huge, I was inside a shop and I saw police chasing a
vehicle on the wrong side of the road. It crashed into several vehicles and
tuk-tuks before it exploded close to the checkpoint as police continued
opening fire on the vehicle,” said another witness, Aisha Ahmed.
Mogadishu is regularly targeted with attacks by the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-
Shabaab group who have been waging a long and violent insurgency seeking to
unseat the internationally backed government in Mogadishu.
They were driven out of Mogadishu in 2011, but still control swathes of
territory from where they plan and launch frequent, deadly strikes against
government and civilian targets.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1441 hrs