Somalia: Soldiers Killed in Al-Shabab Attack Near Mogadishu

TEHRAN (Defapress)- "Police and military fired at a speeding suicide car bomb today and it exploded in Afgoye district. So far, we know three soldiers died," Captain Nur Ali, a police officer, told the Reuters.

Al-Shabab claimed a higher death toll, as Abdiasis Abu Musab, al-Shabab's military operation spokesman, told Reuters that "a suicide car bomb targeted Somali forces who were deployed ahead of President [Mohamed Abdullahi] Farmaajo's visit in Afgoye. We killed 11 soldiers".

Residents reported hearing a powerful explosion, followed by gunfire from the base.

Addow Isse, a resident in the town, said he saw at least three bodies lying in a pool of blood, according to The Associated Press news agency.

Colonel Ahmed Ali told AP that fatalities could increase from the 10 injured in the blast.

In a separate incident on Sunday, police said a car bomb parked in front of a restaurant at the busy street of Maka al-Mukaram in Mogadishu had exploded.

"A car bomb exploded at a parking in front [of] a restaurant," Major Abdullahi Hussein, a police officer, told the Reuters news agency.

Abdikar Abdirahman, director of Amin ambulance services stated that "so far, we have taken two dead people and seven others are injured".

A Reuters witness said he saw three dead and the wreckage of three cars and an autorickshaw.

Earlier, Somali forces killed two fighters after a gun battle erupted briefly at a checkpoint in the capital, according to police.

"Somalia's military killed two armed militants at Benadir checkpoint. Two soldiers were slightly injured in the exchange of fire," Major Mohamed Abdullahi, a police officer, told Reuters.

Al-Shabab, which is fighting to overthrow Somalia's government, routinely stages attacks.

The group was pushed out of Mogadishu in 2011 by Somali troops backed by African Union soldiers.

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