News / Somalia

Three police officers killed in car bomb explosion in Somali capital

Wednesday, 09 March 2016 7:47 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 09 March 2016 7:46 AM ]

Somali civilians walk past the wreckage of a car after an attack on a hotel in the capital, Mogadishu, February 27, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

At least three police officers have lost their lives in a car bomb explosion in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, a police commander says.

“The police officers were among police being trained,” Ali Mohamed Hirsi, the commander of Mogadishu police, told reporters at the scene of the Wednesday blast, which occurred near a tea shop frequented by officers.

The Takfiri al-Shabab militant group claimed responsibility for the raid. A spokesman for the group claimed in remarks made to Reuters that 10 police officers had been killed in the incident, contrasting the death toll offered by police.

In the last two weeks, the militants have launched mortar attacks near the presidential palace, set off a car bomb near a park in the capital, and blown up twin blasts in the town of Baidoa, located northwest of Mogadishu. Dozens of people have been killed in the raids.

Somalia has been the scene of deadly fighting between government forces and al-Shabab elements since 2006.

The militants have been pushed out of Mogadishu and other major cities by government troops and the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM), which is largely made up of troops from Ethiopia, Uganda, Burundi, Djibouti, Sierra Leone, and Kenya.

However, al-Shabab has continued to carry out attacks in Mogadishu despite being ousted from the capital in 2011.

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