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Somalia: Explosions Rock Two Major Cities as 4 Killed in Baidoa

A Somali soldier stands at the scene of a suicide car bomb near the port in Mogadishu, Somalia Saturday, July 4, 2020. Explosions rocked two of Somalia's largest cities on Saturday as officials said a suicide car bomber detonated near the port in Mogadishu and a land mine was detonated by remote control as people were dining in a restaurant on the outskirts of Baidoa. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)
A Somali soldier stands at the scene of a suicide car bomb near the port in Mogadishu, Somalia Saturday, July 4, 2020. Explosions rocked two of Somalia's largest cities on Saturday as officials said a suicide car bomber detonated near the port in Mogadishu and a land mine was detonated by remote control as people were dining in a restaurant on the outskirts of Baidoa. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)
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Somalia: Explosions Rock Two Major Cities as 4 Killed in Baidoa

A Somali soldier stands at the scene of a suicide car bomb near the port in Mogadishu, Somalia Saturday, July 4, 2020. Explosions rocked two of Somalia's largest cities on Saturday as officials said a suicide car bomber detonated near the port in Mogadishu and a land mine was detonated by remote control as people were dining in a restaurant on the outskirts of Baidoa. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)
A Somali soldier stands at the scene of a suicide car bomb near the port in Mogadishu, Somalia Saturday, July 4, 2020. Explosions rocked two of Somalia's largest cities on Saturday as officials said a suicide car bomber detonated near the port in Mogadishu and a land mine was detonated by remote control as people were dining in a restaurant on the outskirts of Baidoa. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)

Explosions rocked two of Somalia's largest cities on Saturday as officials said a suicide car bomber detonated near the port in Mogadishu and a land mine in a restaurant on the outskirts of Baidoa killed four people.

Ali Abdullahi, an official with the Southwestern regional state told The Associated Press (AP) that the mine was detonated by remote control as people were dining during the morning rush.

Several others were wounded, he noted.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab group has targeted the city in the past.

Ahmed Ali said the car bomber detonated near the gates of the motor vehicle imports duty authority headquarters.

The bomber sped through the first security checkpoint before police officers opened fire at the vehicle which exploded outside the gates, Ismail Mukhtar, spokesman for Somalia’s information ministry, told the AP.

Five police officers were wounded, said Sadik Aden Ali, spokesman for Somalia’s police force.

Since 2008, the extremist militant group al Shabaab has been fighting to overthrow the central government in Somalia and establish its own rule, Reuters reported.

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Al Shabaab Captures Strategic Somalia Town as it Presses Offensive

Vehicles of the Somali special police forces are parked during a handover ceremony in Mogadishu, Somalia, 14 April 2025. EPA/SAID YUSUF WARSAME
Vehicles of the Somali special police forces are parked during a handover ceremony in Mogadishu, Somalia, 14 April 2025. EPA/SAID YUSUF WARSAME
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Al Shabaab Captures Strategic Somalia Town as it Presses Offensive

Vehicles of the Somali special police forces are parked during a handover ceremony in Mogadishu, Somalia, 14 April 2025. EPA/SAID YUSUF WARSAME
Vehicles of the Somali special police forces are parked during a handover ceremony in Mogadishu, Somalia, 14 April 2025. EPA/SAID YUSUF WARSAME

Al Shabaab fighters captured a town in central Somalia on Wednesday that government forces had been using as a staging area to drive back an offensive by the militants that has gained ground in recent weeks, residents and soldiers said.
Advances by the al Qaeda affiliate, which included briefly capturing villages within 50 km (30 miles) of Mogadishu last month, have left residents of the capital on edge as rumors swirl that al Shabaab could target the city.
The army has recaptured those villages, but al Shabaab continues to advance in the countryside, leading the government to deploy police officers and prison guards to support the military, soldiers have told Reuters.
Six residents and three soldiers said al Shabaab seized the town of Adan Yabaal, which lies around 245 km (150 miles) north of Mogadishu, in heavy fighting on Wednesday.
"After many hours of fighting we made a tactical retreat," said Aden Ismail, a military officer who transported injured soldiers to the nearby Hiiraan region.
The army and allied clan militias have been using Adan Yabaal as an operating base for raids against al Shabaab.
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who hails from the area, visited the town last month to meet with military commanders there about sending reinforcements.
"If al Shabaab captures one town, that does not mean they overpowered us," Mohamud said in a speech on Wednesday, without directly naming the town. "There is a big difference between a war and a battle."
Al Shabaab said in a statement that its forces had overrun 10 military installations during Wednesday's fighting.
"After early morning prayers, we heard a deafening explosion, then gunfire," Fatuma Nur, a mother of four, told Reuters by telephone from Adan Yabaal. "Al Shabaab attacked us from two directions."
National government officials were either not reachable or did not respond to requests for comment.
The fighting comes as the future of international security support to Somalia has grown increasingly precarious.
A new African Union peacekeeping mission replaced a larger force at the start of the year, but its funding is uncertain, with the United States opposed to a plan to transition to a UN financing model.