MOGADISHU, Somalia – A local government official has narrowly escaped from an IED explosion in the Somali capital, Mogadishu on Friday night, witnesses and police confirmed.
The official whose name has not yet been revealed is safe after a blast from a remote-controlled landmine attached to the wall of his house went off during the evening hours.
The targeted official is the administrator of a village in the Deynile district north of the capital, which is deemed as a hotbed of terror as Al-Shabaab members often sneak into.
No casualties were reported as of now. Police cordoned off the scene and conducted an investigation into the attack, which is believed to be the work of the Al-Qaeda affiliate.
Mogadishu has been relatively calm and has witnessed a brilliant transformation since Hassan Sheikh Mohamud assumed power last year following his historic re-election.
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the latest attack in the restive capital, but al-Shabab terror group usually stages such attacks in the Horn of Africa nation.
The Qaida-allied group, which was driven out of Mogadishu by Somali army and African Union forces in 2011, still carries out attacks in the capital and in rural areas in central and southern Somalia.
