MOGADISHU (Somaliguardian) – Somalia’s government spokesman Mohamed Ibrahim Moalimuu was wounded in an explosion at a busy junction carried out by a suicide bomber in the capital Mogadishu, police said on Sunday.
Moalimuu was targeted as he was passing in his vehicle at the Dabka junction in the Somali capital and has been immediately rushed to a hospital where he is being treated for injuries. Witness images show body parts laying on the road and the spokesman’s vehicle damaged in the aftermath of the attack.
“A suicide bomber targeted the government’s spokesman, who is now being treated in hospital for his injuries from the blast,” police spokesman Abdifatah Aden told Reuters news agency.
Somali Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble, who appointed Moalimuu as his spokesperson in December 2020, wished him a speedy recovery.
“[Somali Prime Minister] strongly condemns the odious terrorist attack targeting Government spokesman, Mr Mohamed Ibrahim Moalimuu who sustained injuries today but is in stable condition. The PM wishes Mr Moalimuu a quick recovery,” the Premier’s office tweeted.
Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack, the second within a week after a car bomb struck a convoy carrying foreign officials in a heavily fortified area of Mogadishu on Wednesday. Insurgents said they had killed two “American officers” in the bombing and wounded two others.
The assault comes weeks after militants killed the director of state-run radio Abdiasis Afrika, who was critical of the group and its fight against the Western-backed Somali government, in Mogadishu last year.
Attacks by Al-Shabaab insurgents have risen over the past weeks as power fight between the President and Prime Minister drags on amid fear raised that it could distract the government from the fight against the armed group, which controls vast swathes of territory outside Mogadishu.
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