A huge blast rocked a military base in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu near a stadium on Saturday, killing at least eight people and injuring 14, emergency workers said.
According to army officer Major Abdullahi Mohamud, it was an attack. ‘’It must be a suicide car bomb, I am now transporting casualties’’, he said
Soldiers opened fire after the explosion which sent clouds of smoke into the sky, said Halima Abdisalan, a mother of three who lives near the area.
“We ran indoors in fear,” she told Reuters. “Soon I could see a military pickup speeding and carrying many soldiers covered with blood. I do not know if they were all dead or injured.”
No group immediately claimed responsibility.
Speaking exclusively to Reuters news agency by phone, Aamin ambulance service head Abdikadir Abdirahman said that, “So far we carried eight dead people and 14 others injured,”
Somalia has been embroiled in deadly violence since 1991 when clan warlords overthrew leader Siad Barre and then turned on each other.
