Somali army general killed in a car- bomb attack

Somali Islamist group al Shabaab was responsible for a car bomb that killed a Somali general on Sunday as he was travelling in a convoy in the capital Mogadishu, police and the Islamist group said.

The general killed in the attack, Military General Mohamed Roble Jimale, was known by the name Goobaanle.

“Commander of third sector General Goobaanle and four of his staff were killed at the scene after a suicide attack hit his car,” Banadir regional spokesman Abdifitah Omar Halane said.

The radio station reported that the suicide attacker drove into the general’s convoy in the capital.

Al Shabaab has of late used suicide car bombing to carry out deadly attacks on politician, soldiers and government officials.

The group had lost control of major areas in Somalia after the deployment of African Union forces in 2011.

Al Shabaab wants to topple the Western-backed government of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who is seeking re-election in the upcoming vote.

Voting for the 275-seat parliament is scheduled to start on September 25 and end on October 10, with new lawmakers sworn in on October 30.

Those lawmakers will, in turn, pick a president on October 30.