MOGADISHU: At least nine people were killed and several others wounded in simultaneous car bombings Wednesday in a town in central Somalia, according to security officials and witnesses.
According to local security official Abdullahi Adan, the terrorists used vehicles laden with explosives to attack the town of Mahas this morning.
They struck a neighborhood full of civilians, and we can now confirm that the two blasts killed a total of nine people, all of whom were civilians.
The attack, which has been attributed to al-Shabaab jihadist fighters, took place in the central Somalian region of Hiran, where a significant offensive against the al-Qaeda affiliate was carried out last year.
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According to Usman Noor, a police commander in Mahas, "after (the terrorists) were defeated, they resorted to targeting civilians out of desperation, but this will not stop the people's desire to defeat them."
He continued, "They have killed innocent civilians in the blasts. Witnesses said the explosion occurred near a restaurant in Mahas and not far from the district administration building.
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Adan Hasan, a witness, said, "I saw bodies of nine civilians, including women and children, it was a terrible attack. Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud has declared "all-out war" against al-Shabaab, which has been waging a bloody insurgency against the weak federal government with international support for 15 years.
In some areas of central Somalia, local clan militias known as "maqawisle" began an insurgency against al-Shabaab in July. In September, Mahmud sent troops to support the resistance.
An operation known as ATMIS, supported by US airstrikes and an African Union (AU) force, recently saw the army and militia recapture large areas of land in the central states of Galmudug and Hirschbel (where the buck is located). seen again.
But despite being on the offensive, the rebels have often responded with brutal attacks, demonstrating their ability to strike in the heart of Somali towns and military outposts.
Al-Shabaab is still heavily entrenched in large parts of rural central and southern Somalia, despite being driven out of most of the country's urban centers about a decade ago.
In the deadliest attack on the troubled Horn of Africa nation in five years, 121 people were killed in two car bombings at the Ministry of Education in the capital city Mogadishu on October 29.
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On 27 November, eight civilians died during a 21-hour siege of a Mogadishu hotel, supported by politicians and government officials. In October, a triple bombing in the reindeer capital Bledweyne killed 30 people, including local officials.
Additionally, a 30-hour-long siege of a hotel in Mogadishu in August resulted in at least 21 deaths before security forces were able to defeat the militants there.