At least nine people were killed and nearly 20 others injured Saturday in a car bomb blast at the front gate of a Somali military base in Mogadishu, witnesses and security officials said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
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At least nine people were killed and nearly 20 others injured Saturday in a car bomb blast at the front gate of a Somali military base in Mogadishu, witnesses and security officials said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Government security officials contacted by VOA have confirmed that eight of those killed were government soldiers and other casualties included members of the solders\u2019 families, who were at the base at the time.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cA suicide bomber driving an explosive-laden vehicle sped toward the front gate of the camp but the guards opened fire to stop it before it detonated,\u201d Aden Mohamed, a police officer among the first responders, told VOA\u2019s Somali Service.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The blast was heard throughout the area and sent a plume of black smoke into the air.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw the dead bodies of at least eight soldiers and ambulances rushed to the scene to carry away the wounded,\u201d a witness told VOA on condition of anonymity.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hospital sources have confirmed that around 20 wounded people, mainly soldiers, were wounded in the blast.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We have taken at least 15 injured people [to hospitals], some of them in critical condition,\u201d the city\u2019s emergency medical responders told local media.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The military camp is located near the city\u2019s newly reopened main sports stadium in the Warta-nabadda district.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Al-Shabab terrorists have claimed responsibility for the Saturday explosion, claiming they killed dozens of government soldiers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At least nine people were killed and nearly 20 others injured Saturday in a car bomb blast at the front gate of a Somali military base in Mogadishu, witnesses and security officials said.\u00a0\u00a0 At least nine people were killed and nearly 20 others injured Saturday in a car bomb blast at the front gate of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":21335,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_108372464460192_245495985553329":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[276,1076],"class_list":["post-9528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-bomb","tag-somalia"],"yoast_head":"\n