Mogadishu: An Islamist militant suicide bomber put his arms around a local official as if in a hug and blew both of them up in the autonomous Somali region of Puntland on Thursday, officials said.
The Islamist militant group Al Shabab, which frequently targets officials in its bid to overthrow the Western-backed Somali government, issued a statement taking responsibility for the attack.
“We killed Saeed Ali, the treasurer of Galkayo, and several police officers that were guarding him,” Shaikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, Al Shabab’s military operation spokesman, said.
Major Nour Ahmad, a police officer, said that Saeed Ali and the guards had been targeted as they attempted to enter a car.
Witnesses said that two bystanders also died in the blast, but officials could not immediately confirm that.
