Somalia: Al Shabaab suicide bombing leaves six dead in Puntland

GALKAYO, Somalia-Somalia’s beleaguered Al Shabaab group has claimed credit for a suicide attack in central Galkayo town on Thursday, Garowe Online reports.

Al Shabaab spokesman Abdiasis Abu Musab said, they were behind the suicide bombing that claimed at killed six to seven people on pro-militant radio station, Andulus.

“We killed Saeed Ali, the treasurer of Galkayo and several police officers that were guarding him,” he told Reuters.

Security sources and medics tell Garowe Online that the exact number of dead couldn’t be confirmed immediately since bodies of victims are all littered over pavement in front of Galkayo’s Uunlaye hotel.

“I can’t say this is the true figure. We’re still collecting together bodies strewn on paved ground,” Puntland paramilitary unit commander, Abdirashid Hassan Hashi said in an interview with Garowe Online.

“For sure, six people were killed. You can have a full look at severed body parts of victims. At most, eight people could be dead,” he added.

Former Galmudug Information Minister Hassan Rush is said to be among those killed in the suicide explosion: “He [suicide bomber] belongs to Bantu,” the security commander unveiled, referring to ethnic minority tribe that resides in southern Somalia.

Puntland security agencies are interrogating the bomber’s family in Galkayo, government sources say.

Puntland President Abdiweli Mohamed Ali has issued condolatory statement, noting that the terrorist attack once more shows ignoble Al Shabaab’s hostility towards the Somali people.

Former Puntland President Abdirahman Mohamed Farole has reacted to the blast, and expressed his sadness on the death of Mudug regional finance ministry accounting director Saed Ali Yusuf (Gadayare).

“I have heard of the death of the director of Puntland finance ministry in Mudug Saed Ali Yusuf (Gadayare), his bodyguards and other civilian bystanders. I want to convey my heartfelt condolences to his family including bereaved wife, children, colleagues inclusive of me and relatives. May Allah grant him the highest of Jannah.”

Galkayo suicide bombing comes amid sticky political talks between a delegation led by Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke and Puntland on the feasibility of newly adopted electoral proposal.

Puntland forces neutralized hundreds of Al Shabaab militants trying to infiltrate into the stable region by boats by pressing ahead with cleanup operations in which over two hundred militants were killed and dozens were taken prisoner over a week ago.

GAROWEONLINE