Somalia: Suicide bomber Kills 2, including minister in Buhodle

BUHODLE, Somalia - A suicide bomber in the northern Somali province of Togdher has killed at least two people, including a regional minister and wounding four others on Wednesday, Garowe Online reports.

Suleyman Aden Elmi, the district commissioner of Buhodle confirmed that a man wearing suicide vest detonated himself at a vehicle carrying former Khaatumo State Minister of Interior, Ahmed Mohamud Dalol.

Elmi added that Abdifatah Mohamed Ali, an ex-finance head of the now-defunct Hizbul Islam Islamic extremist group who defected from Al-Shabab in 2013, along with the jailed Hassan Dahir Aweys was among the dead.

Ali became a political adviser to former Somali Prime Minister, Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke who served from 24 December 2014 to 1 March 2017.

The deadly explosion occurred shortly after the two officials had just left a mosque in the town after evening prayers at around 7:00 p.m. local time.

According to Police sources, the bomber signaled to stop the vehicle, greeted the two officials before detonating an "explosive belt" around his waist, killing all occupants on the spot, while injuring four passerby civilians.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the suicide attack which becomes the first bombing in the city's history, but, the incident bore the hallmarks of Al-Shabab battling to topple the UN-backed government in Mogadishu for a decade.

GAROWE ONLINE