According to a statement from the security ministry in Somalia, preliminary findings have revealed that the suicide bomber that killed Mogadishu’s mayor and six others was a blind woman who worked in city government.
Investigators say the bomber blew up herself with the help of another woman she worked with.
The al Qaeda-linked Islamist militant group, al-Shabaab, which aims to topple Somalia’s U.N.-backed government, claimed responsibility for the July 24 attack in Mogadishu.
The security ministry said in a statement: “The female bomber was disabled (blind). She misused the opportunity and acted with enmity against the bosses and the people she worked with.”
A month before the bombing, the two women took leaves of absence from work, the ministry statement and visited an area of Somalia controlled by al-Shabaab.
The attack is believed to be the first one in which al-Shabaab used a disabled person as a suicide bomber.
The whereabouts of the suicide bomber’s colleague are unknown.
