Somalia: Suicide bomb in a market in Mogadishu kills 18, wounds 25

At least eighteen people were killed on Sunday by a suicide car bomb in the Somali capital Mogadishu, according to local officials and witnesses.

A local official of the security services, Mohamed Jilibey, pointed out that many people stood at the intersection when the explosion occurred.

The attack is first of its kind in Mogadishu since February 8, after the election of the new Somali president Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, alias Farmajo. Two children were reported killed by gunfire on the day of the handover ceremony between Farmajo and his predecessor.

The attack on Sunday targeted a very busy intersection of the neighborhood in the Southern part of the capital.

“There are many stalls along the road, small shops, restaurants, and tea houses,” Sumayo Moalim,a witness,had told AFP.

This type of attack is generally attributed to the al-Shabaab militants, who were driven out of the capital in 2011, but they continue to control large rural areas and carry out attacks against the Somali military and those of the African Union (Amisom).