Car bomb kills 17 in Somalia; Al-Shabaab owns responsibility
MOGADISHU. February 22. KAZINFORM A suicide car bomb by rebels who profess loyalty to Al-Qaeda killed at least 17 people near a police training camp in Somalia's capital Mogadishu on Monday, and police forecast the death toll would rise; Kazinform refers to Arab News.
Al Shabaab, which claimed responsibility for the attack, has waged a three-year insurgency to topple the UN-backed interim government they consider a stooge of the West, restricting its writ to just a few blocks of Mogadishu.
Western spy agencies say the Horn of Africa country has become a haven for foreign jihadists, while critics have accused the government of not doing enough to end the insurgency.
Somali Al-Shabaab rebels claimed responsibility for bombs in Uganda that killed scores of people in July.
"Today we carried out a blessed car bomb attack at the so-called police camp," Al-Shabaab spokesman Ali Mohamud Rage told reporters. "This is a warning to our enemies and a pleasure for us."
Police, who had earlier said they suspected Al-Shabaab in the hit, said civilian casualties were high in the early morning strike on a busy main road that was aimed at Seredi, the police training camp about 500 meters (1,650 feet) from Mogadishu port.
"We cannot get the exact number of dead now. We are busy collecting flesh, and people are shocked here," Hassan Ali, a police officer, told Reuters.
There were likely to be more casualties since fragments of the bomb, shrapnel and wrecked car parts were flung across the road and into various buildings and houses, police said.
Two vehicles with passengers headed for the port burst into flames and several residents fled in panic, police said. A donkey and its rider both lay dead and nearby houses made of iron sheets were destroyed.
Four of those killed were suicide bombers, seven were police officers, and half a dozen were civilians, police said.
Ali said police shot at a speeding vehicle hurtling toward the gates of their training camp, before the explosion shook the area, covering it in flames and smoke.
"We fired at the car as it sped toward us, before it exploded outside our gate. Two police guards were killed."
Ali said the bombers' vehicle was a mini-lorry loaded with drums and explosives; Kazinform cites Arab News.
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