Somalia : Governor Escapes Suicide Attack

A regional governor in Somalia has escaped a suicide bombing that killed at least three people, including two of his bodyguards, officials said on Saturday.

Five more people were wounded when a suicide bomber detonated himself outside a hotel in Baidoa, the capital of Somalia’s Bay region and administrative capital of the South West State.

“Ali Wardhere Dooyow, the governor of Bay region, was the target. The governor was not hurt, but two of his guards and one more person have died,” Mohamud Adan Ibrahim, a police officer in Baidoa, told Anadolu Agency.

The five people wounded were mostly civilians and they have been shifted to a hospital, the official said.

Baidoa is considered one of Somalia’s major cities and is located some 240 kilometers (around 150 miles) southwest of the capital Mogadishu.

on Saturday, an IED targeted a security forces convoy in Mogadishu’s Yaqshiid district killing two officers and wounding another.

Al-Shabab has been fighting to overthrow Somalia’s federal government since 2007 and launches regular attacks against government and civilian targets.

A week ago, Somalia’s army said soldiers had killed scores of al-Shabab fighters who attacked two key military bases.

In 5 march, At least 20 people were killed and 30 wounded by a suicide car bomb just outside a restaurant near the port in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu late on Friday.

The blast sent plumes of smoke into the sky and triggered gunfire, witnesses and state-owned media reported.

“So far we have carried 20 dead people and 30 injured from the blast scene,” Dr Abdulkadir Aden, founder of AAMIN Ambulance services, told Reuters news agency.

The blast occurred at the Luul Yemeni restaurant near the port, witnesses said.

“A speeding car exploded at Luul Yemeni restaurant. I was going to the restaurant but ran back when the blast shook and covered the area with smoke,” said resident Ahmed Abdullahi.

Somalia is weeks overdue for a presidential election. The president’s term has expired without a successor in place. At the centre of the crisis is President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, better known as Farmaajo, a former US dual citizen whose previous job was as a local bureaucrat.