At least 10 people were killed on Sunday when a suicide bomber targeted a line of young recruits registering at the Damanyo military base in Mogadishu, Somalia, witnesses told Reuters. The attack was claimed by the militant group al Shabaab.
The witnesses said teenagers were queuing at the base’s gate when the attacker detonated explosives.
A military captain, who identified himself as Suleiman, described witnessing the attack.
“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.
The scene was littered with abandoned shoes and the remains of the suicide bomber.
Another witness, Abdisalan Mohamed, said he saw “hundreds of teenagers at the gate as we passed by in a bus” [i].
“Abruptly, a deafening blast occurred, and the area was covered by dense smoke. We could not see the details of casualties,” he said.
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Medical staff at the military hospital reported receiving 30 injured individuals from the blast, with six dying immediately.
Government forces quickly sealed off the area.
Al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement on Sunday, asserting that it had killed as many as 30 soldiers and wounded 50 more. Government officials were not immediately available for comment.
Al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab has been waging an insurgency in Somalia since 2007 and has recently been engaged in battles with the army to expand its control in central Somalia.
The attack is reminiscent of a similar incident in 2023, where a suicide bomber killed 25 soldiers at the Jale Siyad base, located opposite the Damanyo facility.
Sunday’s attack occurred after the assassination on Saturday of Colonel Abdirahmaan Hujaale, commander of battalion 26, in the Hiiran region, following local reports of al Shabaab militant infiltration into government and security forces.
