Three policemen die in Mogadishu car bombing

Police in Somalia said a car bomb exploded outside a tea-shop near a police building in Mogadishu yesterday, killing at least three officers.

Mogadishu Police Commissioner, Ali Hersi Barre, said the driver of the car was taken into custody and was seriously injured by the blast.

Barre said police are investigating.

Yesterday’s followed one on Monday in the city of Beledweyne, in which at least six people, including two African Union soldiers, were injured in an explosion at an airport.

In an interview with VOA’s Somali service, Beledweyne police commander, Colonel Ali Dhuh Abdi, said an explosion occurred at the entrance of the airport, while security forces thwarted others.

“A laptop packed with explosives exploded at the front gate of the airport, as the security officers were trying to inspect a car carrying the device, injuring four Somalis and two Djiboutian African Union peacekeepers,” Abdi told VOA.

He said the security officials immediately discovered another bomb.

“Following the explosion we immediately launched a security operation to ensure that all passengers at the airport were safe and fortunately, we found a printer, which had a bomb implanted,” Abdi said.

He said the explosion had the hallmarks of another incident last month when a blast occurred inside a Daallo airline flight bound for Djibouti. In that explosion, a passenger believed to be the bomber fell out the hole created by the blast and died.

Militant group al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for that attack. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the Beledweyne explosion.