Somalia: AU peacekeeper killed, 2 hurt in Hiran landmine

BULO BURDE, Somalia - An African Union peacekeeper was reportedly killed, and two others were wounded in a landmine explosion in central Somalia on Friday morning, Garowe Online reports.

Residents said the blast occurred when an Improvised Explosive Device [IED] struck peacekeepers from Djibouti near an airport in Bulo Burde district in Hiran region, killing one soldier on the spot.

Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the bomb attack targeted the troops serving with the African Union Mission to Somalia known as [AMISOM].

The AU mission has yet released any statement regarding the death of the peacekeeper in Bulo Burde which lies some 200 Kilometers (125 miles) north of the capital, Mogadishu.

This attack was the latest in series of IED blasts targeting the African Union forces and the Somali National Army [SNA] in the south and central Somalia by the extremist group linked with Al Qaeda.

Last month, a powerful roadside bomb planted in the same Airport vicinity in Bulo Burde has left at least one Djibouti soldier while several sustained injuries.

The town has been under siege from al-Shabaab since AMISOM peacekeepers SNA forces retook control of it in March 2014 following joint military operation.

Al-Shabaab, which is linked to al-Qaeda, has waged a decade-long insurgency to overthrow the weak UN-backed Federal government backed by 22,000 African Union forces.

GAROWE ONLINE