Somalia's army chief survives suicide bombing
Somalia's army chief, Standard Odowa Yusuf Rage, on Monday survived a good suicide bomb assault that was claimed by the Al-Shabaab jihadist group, military sources said.
A civilian died and six other persons were wounded in the strike over his motorcade in the administrative centre Mogadishu, one said.
"The terrorist, driving a Toyota Surf Land Cruiser, tried to strike a convoy escorting the army chief when the security forces fired countless warning shots to avoid him," said Captain Mohamed Ismail, a military official.
"But he overlooked (the pictures), and the forces directly fired over him, detonating the automobile. A civilian died and six others had been wounded, incorporating two soldiers," he said.
Suleyman Ali, another military officer, said, "The reliability forces shot a suicide car bomber who tried to sneak into the convoy escorting the military chief Odowa Yusuf Rage. The army chief survived the assault and he's safe."
Protection forces briefly detained several journalists who all arrived.
The overall was appointed previous August at the age of 32, producing him the youngest army chief in Somalia's history.
Monday's strike was claimed by Al-Shabaab through their mass media outlet Shahada, based on the US monitoring group SITE.
The jihadists, who are affiliated to Al-Qaeda, were driven out of Mogadishu by government forces backed by 20,000 African Union peacekeepers in 2011.
But they even now control swathes of territory beyond your cities and perform attacks, specialising in suicide bombings, against federal government and international targets. - AFP
