Wednesday, December 03, 2014

Three Killed in Mogadishu Airport Bomb Explosion
Damage from bomb blast in Mogadishu on Dec. 3, 2014.
TVC NEWS [MOGADISHU]- No fewer than three Somali security personnel were killed when a car bomb targeting a United Nations convoy exploded near the airport in the Somali capital, Mogadishu on Wednesday (December 3).

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but in the past similar attacks against the U.N. have been carried out by al Shabaab militants who are allied with al Qaeda and want to topple the Western-backed government in Mogadishu.

Police spokesman Qasim Mahamed Roble gave details of the casualties.

"Some people died including a security officer and many others wounded at the scene of explosion and we are still investigating the scene," he said.

Aleem Siddique, a spokesman for U.N.'s Somalia mission, said no U.N. staff were killed during the attack.

The airport has a tight security cordon and blast walls, and is used as a base for U.N. operations in Somalia. The airport area is also the home to the British and Italian embassies.

A security advisor at the airport told Reuters four members of DUGUF, a private security firm, were killed in the blast.

International delegations visiting Mogadishu frequently travel with local security firms which place pick up trucks at the front and back of a convoy, each with about 10 security men armed with AK-47 rifles.

African Union forces along with the Somali army launched a new offensive this year against al Shabaab, which is fighting to impose its harsh interpretation of Islamic law on Somalia.

Driven out of Mogadishu in 2011, al Shabaab has lost control of several towns in the latest offensive, but officials say the Islamists still control tracts of countryside and settlements from where they have
launched their guerrilla-style campaign

- See more at: http://www.tvcnews.tv/?q=article/three-killed-mogadishu-airport-bomb-explosion#sthash.aEnbrN4o.dpuf

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