Female suicide bomber kills seven in Somalia, wounds top officials

MOGADISHU, Somalia — A female suicide bomber in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu killed seven people and wounded several others in an attack outside a local government headquarters on Wednesday, Garowe Online reports.

The attack in Mogadishu municipality office was claimed by the Al-Qaeda-linked extremist Al-Shabaab, which said the main target was the new United Nations envoy to Somalia James Swan visiting the area.

The deadly explosion happened after Swan had left the office just hours earlier. The suicide bomb was detonated within the municipal premises during a meeting at the mayor’s compound.

Two district commissioners, three directors, and senior regional officials are among the dead while nearly ten others, including the mayor of Mogadishu, Abdirahman Omar Osman Yarisow were injured.

Speaking to VOA Somali Service, Mohamed Abdullahi Tuulah, the deputy Mogadishu mayor said he believes the female bomber could not carry out the attack without support or facilitators from inside.

The mayor’s condition is said to be unstable and is likely to be airlifted to abroad, may be Qatar for further treatment after undergoing surgery at a Turkish-run hospital in Mogadishu since Wednesday.

The rare female suicide attack comes a day after a car bomb killed at least 17 at a security checkpoint for Mogadishu airport and hurt dozens, mostly civilians, showing that the city’s security still remains fragile.

Senior envoys of the United Nations (UN) and African Union (AU) in Somali capital condemned a suicide attack that took place in the offices of Mogadishu’s mayor on Wednesday.

“The UN stands with the people and government of Somalia in their rejection of such terrorist acts, and our thoughts are with the victims of this attack,” Swan said in a statement issued in Mogadishu.

Despite being driven out of Mogadishu, the group still deadly assaults and bomb attacks across the Horn of Africa nation to drive out AU mission’s troops and oust the Western-backed Somali government.

GAROWE ONLINE