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Djiboutian soldiers in Beledweyne, Somalia (icon image)
Photo: Ahmed Qeys / imago images/ZUMA Wire
Two suicide bombers killed at least 18 people in the Somali provincial capital Beledweyne, police said.
Dozens were also injured when two trucks drove into a military camp in the central Somali region of Hiiraan on Monday morning and exploded there.
The Islamist Al-Shabaab militia claimed responsibility for the crime on its propaganda radio station Andalus.
Local police officer Hassan Dhi'isow told the German Press Agency: "These attacks are the worst attacks in Beledweyne in years.
The number of dead is likely to be significantly higher.” According to the information, the health minister of the province of Hirshabelle, Sakariye Hurre, is among the dead.
Days after US drone attack on Al-Shabaab official
Since the beginning of September, the Somali army, with the support of armed clans, has been gaining large amounts of territory against the Islamist militia Al-Shabaab, which rules the region.
The terrorists repeatedly carry out attacks on the civilian population in the country on the Horn of Africa, destroying houses and wells.
The attack came days after senior al-Shabaab official Abdullahi Nadir was killed in a US drone strike in the south of the country.
The US had put a $3 million bounty on Nadir's head.
mas/dpa