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Suicide Bomber in Somalia's Puntland Hugged an Official Before Killing Him

The Islamist militant group al-Shabaab, which frequently targets officials in its bid to overthrow the Western-backed Somali government, appears to have escalated its attacks this year.
Photo by AP

A suicide bomber strapped with explosives seemed to give a local official a hug before blowing both of them up in the semi-autonomous Somali region of Puntland on Thursday, the latest attack in an apparently escalating campaign by militant group al-Shabaab.

The attack occurred in Galkayo city near the Unlay hotel, leaving at least six dead. Part of Galkayo city falls under Puntland control, while the rest is Somalia's territory in the state of Galmudug. The assailant reportedly wrapped his arms around local finance official Saeed Ali before detonating the bomb.

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Major Nur Ahmed, a police officer, told Reuters that Ali and the guards had been targeted as they attempted to enter a car. Witnesses said that two bystanders also died in the blast, but officials could not immediately confirm that.

The Islamist militant group al-Shabaab, which frequently targets officials in its bid to overthrow the Western-backed Somali government, issued a statement taking responsibility for the attack.

"We killed Saeed Ali, the treasurer of Galkayo, and several police officers that were guarding him," said Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, al-Shabaab's military operation spokesman.

The al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabaab group has carried out attacks in the East African country for the last decade with the aim of ousting Somalia's government in order to implement its extreme brand of Islamic law. The militants were pushed out of Mogadishu by African Union peacekeeping forces in 2011 but the group has remained an antagonist in the region, launching frequent attacks and increasingly spreading its violence across the border into Kenya.

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Puntland has mostly been exempt from al-Shabaab's insurgency, but the region has fallen victim to suicide attacks over the last year or so as the militants ramp up the frequency of their violence. Like neighboring Somaliland, another autonomous region of Somalia, Puntland has claimed independence but the Somali government continues to maintain control at the national level. Last April, militants bombed a United Nations vehicle outside of the international body's compound in Puntland's administrative capital of Garowe.

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In March, al-Shabaab fighters descended on Puntland's port city of Garad and managed to gain control. As the militants step up their assault within Somalia and its autonomous regions, the military efforts to eliminate them have also received a boost. Somali troops reportedly fought al-Shabaab militants in Puntland last week leaving 170 militants dead, according to Bloomberg.

The US military has helped carry out joint military operations with local forces in Somalia on at least two occasions this month. Upwards of 150 militants in the making were killed at one of the group's training camps, while a subsequent attack on an al Shabaab base left several dead.

Thursday's bombing in Puntland comes just hours after gunmen opened fire in the Somali capital city of Mogadishu on Wednesday night.

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Six people, including two Turkish nationals, were killed when the unidentified gunmen attacked a minibus carrying workers to a Turkish-run hospital, according to police. The gunmen, who were in a car, opened fire at the vehicle as it passed in Mogadishu's Hodan district.

"Gunmen opened fire on minibus. Two Turkish and four Somalis died. Five Turks and a Kenyan were also injured," Ali Ahmed, a police officer at Hodan district police station, told Reuters.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, and al Shabaab was not immediately available for comment.

Al-Shabaab appears to have escalated its attacks so far this year. The group carried out several violent assaults in Somalia in February, including a bombing at the end of the month at a busy junction and a nearby restaurant in the town of Baidoa, killing as many as 55 people. Just two days earlier on February 26, al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for a deadly park bombing and an attack at the nearby Somali Youth League hotel. A mortar shell attack also occurred near the presidential palace.

Al-Shabaab gunmen also carried out a siege at a popular beach earlier this year, killing more than a dozen people, and in February a suicide bomber linked to the group detonated a bomb on a plane leaving Mogadishu's international airport, damaging it and killing himself but failing to bring it down.

In January, the group carried out its deadliest attack against Kenyan troops, reportedly killing some 200 at the African Union's El Adde base.

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