Three women killed in Mogadishu bomb blast

At least three women have been killed and several others injured in the Somali capital Mogadishu after a bomb went off in a pile of rubbish.

The explosion occurred as the victims, thought to be street cleaners, were sweeping roads in the southern Hodon district, police said.

“We are not sure if the bomb was intentionally planted under the garbage or if it was an unexploded object that was left during the war years ago,” police official Bashir Nure said.

“Several of the women have died and some are injured but I don’t know exactly how many,” he added.

Islamist Shebab insurgents have recently escalated their attacks on the Somali capital, killing an MP on Friday after an assault on the presidential palace last month and a raid on parliament in May.

Duniya Ali, an official at Medina hospital, confirmed three dead and 11 wounded from Sunday’s blast.

But witness Mohamed Abdirahman counted four dead. “I saw the dead bodies of four innocent women due to the large explosion, seven others were also rushed to hospital with injuries,” he said.

AFP