A suicide bombing by militants linked to al-Qaida killed at least 11 people at a Somali army training camp, the latest assault to rock the capital as the president vows to stamp out a yearslong insurgency.
The blast at the facility in Mogadishu on Sunday occurred during the recruitment of new troops, according to army officer Jama Hassan, who gave the death toll. Another 18 people were wounded.
Al-Shabab, the Islamist group that’s been fighting Somalia’s government for the past decade, took responsibility for the bombing, according to Radio Andalus, a broadcaster that supports its goals.
The attack comes as Somalia’s government under President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud steps up its fight against the militants in the center and south of the Horn of Africa nation that’s been ravaged by decades of conflict.
In May, U.S. President Joe Biden authorized the U.S. military to send Special Operations troops back to Somalia on a “persistent” basis to revive a counterterrorism mission that was ended during Donald Trump’s administration. The U.S. last week said it killed 27 al-Shabab members in an airstrike.
Mogadishu is a regular target of al-Shabab attacks. In August, its fighters stormed a popular hotel, sparking a siege that ended with at least 20 people dead.
