Suicide bomber kills recruits at Somali army base

At least 10 people were killed on Sunday after a suicide bomber targeted a queue of young recruits registering at the Damanyo military base in the Somali capital Mogadishu, witnesses said. 

Teenagers were lining up at the base’s gate when the attacker detonated their explosives, they said.

A military captain who gave his name as Suleiman described the attack as he had seen it unfold.

“I was on the other side of the road. A speeding tuk-tuk stopped, a man alighted, ran into the queue, and then blew himself up. I saw 10 people dead, including recruits and passers-by. The death toll may rise,” he said.

Dozens of abandoned shoes and the remains of the suicide bomber were visible at the scene.

Another witness, Abdisalan Mohamed, said he had seen “hundreds of teenagers at the gate as we passed by in a bus”.

“Abruptly, a deafening blast occurred, and the area was covered by dense smoke. We could not see the details of casualties,” he said.

Medical staff at the military hospital said they had received 30 injured people from the blast and that six of them had died immediately.

Government forces quickly cordoned off the area.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack and government officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

The attack echoed a similar incident in 2023 when a suicide bomber killed 25 soldiers at the Jale Siyad base, located opposite the Damanyo facility.

Sunday’s attack followed the assassination on Saturday of Col Abdirahmaan Hujaale, commander of battalion 26, in the Hiiran region, amid local reports of Al-Shabaab militant infiltration into government and security forces.

Reuters