At least 5 people were killed and 11 others injured, including a governor, in a suicide attack perpetrated on Tuesday March 14 in southwestern Somalia, a police commander told AFP.
The attack was not immediately claimed, but all eyes are on the chebab, a group affiliated with al-Qaeda and which regularly commits suicide attacks in this poor and unstable country in the Horn of Africa.
“She shook the earth like an earthquake”
"
A suicide bomber drove a vehicle loaded with explosives into a guest house in Bardera where government officials were staying,
" said Hussein Adan, police commander in the town in the Gedo region, 450 kilometers east of Bardera. west of the capital Mogadishu.
Among those officials were Gedo Governor Ahmed Bulle Gared and several military commanders, he added.
"
The explosion destroyed most of the building and five security guards were killed
," continued Hussein Adan, adding that eleven other people were injured, including the governor, without giving further details on the seriousness of the injuries.
"
We have never heard anything as big as the explosion this morning, it shook the earth like an earthquake
," Mohamud Saney, a witness, told AFP.
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The Chebab rebels
The Chebab rebels have been fighting the federal government supported by the international community since 2007.
Driven out of the main cities of the country in 2011-2012, they remain firmly established in vast rural areas.
President Hassan Cheikh Mohamoud, who returned to power in May 2022, promised them "
total war
".
But the shebab continue to carry out bloody attacks in retaliation, showing their ability to strike at the heart of Somali cities and military installations.
On October 29, 2022, two car bombs exploded in Mogadishu, killing 121 people and injuring 333, the deadliest attack in five years in this country also affected by a historic drought.