Somalia: Car bomb wounds UN security guards

Four security guards working for the United Nations have been wounded after a car bomb explosion near their compound in Mogadishu, Somali officials said.

All the victims are Somalis. officials said one of them, the chief of the local security guards, suffered severe injuries.
According to Reuters news agency the militant group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack.

The explosion occurred in a garage next to the compound of the United Nations Development Program in the capital.

An intelligence official says the bomb was planted in the car at the parking lot of the garage which is used by UNDP.

“Immediately after the driver got out of the car the explosion went off,” the official said.

Nine people have been arrested in connection with the blast. The officials added that most of those arrested were detained from another garage where the car was parked overnight.

The U.N. humanitarian organizations and other NGOs often rely on local security guards while operating outside the heavily fortified African Union Headquarters in Mogadishu’s airport.

The U.N. compound is located close to the airport.

Car bomb wounds four UN guards in Somalia’s capital https://t.co/cw8WgDHZSs pic.twitter.com/w8nIFmujjO

— The Herald (@HeraldNG) January 4, 2017

Meanwhile, twin explosions near the airport on Monday killed nine people including six civilians. Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for that attack.