MOGADISHU, Somalia – A car explosion took place in Mogadishu on Saturday morning at a time the capital’s security has been beefed up for fear of Al-Shabaab revenge attacks.
The incident took place near a police checkpoint in the Warliliska area within Deynile district, north of Mogadishu. IEDs hidden in a vegetable-carrying vehicle caused the blast.
Two people who drove the car were arrested and are being questioned. No casualties were reported in the incident which police officers described as a foiled attack on Mogadishu.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the morning attack. However, it comes amid combined efforts to defeat Al-Shabaab in central regions within Galmudug and HirShabelle states.
Al-Shabab, one of Africa’s deadliest armed groups, has recently been avoiding active combat with the joint forces but instead adopted night combat tactics and increased its use of suicide bombing.
The Al-Qaeda-linked armed group also maintains limited but effective administrative control over local populations in south-central Somalia. Since last year, SNA made gains against Al-Shabaab.
According to the Somali government more than 80 areas, including key towns such as Harardhere and Adan Yabaal were liberated during the first phase of the military operations.
