Car bomb blast in Somali capital kills 2

At least two people were killed and five wounded, including soldiers, Tuesday when a car bomb blast targeted an official in the Somali capital Mogadishu, officials said.

The bomb attack went off near the Sinka Dher intersection in Mogadishu.

"The Al-Shabaab terrorist group targeted the Kahda district commissioner with a car bomb blast killing two people and wounding five others, including soldiers and the Kahda district spy chief," Abdifatah Hassan, a police captain in Mogadishu, told Anadolu Agency.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency by phone, Ismail Mukhtar Oronjo, a Somali government spokesman, said the attack came after a suspected al-Shabaab gunman shot dead Ibrahim Alow, an administrator in Kahda, and Fadumo Matan, a member of a COVID-19 awareness team.

"The bomb attack took place when the district commissioner and other officials reached the crime scene," he said, adding that investigations are underway.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. However, Somali-based, al-Qaeda-affiliated militant group al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for many recent attacks in the Horn of Africa country.