Digital Desk: According to the Mogadishu ambulance service, a suicide bomber targeted a minibus full of delegates involved in Somalia. Somalia is going to hold its parliamentary election soon. The bomb blast killing at least six persons. The al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab armed organization asserted credit for the attack.
The blast occurred early on Thursday as the vehicle was traveling through a busy junction on its way to the president's office in the East African nation's capital.
"The area was densely occupied when the blast happened, and some of the losses, the majority of whom are civilians, were critically wounded," security official Abdullahi Muktar informed AFP.
Six people died, he asserted, and 12 were injured.
"The incident is still being investigated to determine the exact possibilities," he noted, "but preliminary observations suggest that someone was liable for the explosion."
In a statement to reporters, Mogadishu's Aamin Ambulance Service verified the casualties but expressed the attack wounded 13.
"The explosion was tremendous, and I saw ambulances transporting wounded patients, some of whom had substantial injuries," stated spectator Mohamed Tahlil.
"I could see somebody racing towards the bus and police shouting stop at gunpoint as we passed through the intersection while on the bus." Then we heard two gunshots and a bomb," one of the delegates, Saado Abdillahi, informed Reuters.
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"We had already passed, but I comprehend there were innocent losses."
Al-Shabab, a group whose purpose is to defeat the government and set its strict interpretation of Islamic law, claimed accountability for the happening, asserting that six representatives and five police officials were killed.
"A Mujaheed suicide bomber attacked an apostate government convoy. According to Abdiasis Abu Musab, al-military Shabab's operations spokesperson, the representatives were the purpose.
Somalia's legislative elections started on November 1 and were planned to end on December 24 but will be conducted on February 25. The attack on representatives could count to the election's hardships.
The postponement in parliamentary elections has been condemned on a months-long confrontation between Somalia's Prime Minister Mohammed Hussein Roble and his political opponent President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed.
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