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.



Russian Defense Minister Visits North Korea to Talk with Military and Political Leaders

In this photo taken from a video released by the Russian Defense Ministry press service, Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, left, is welcomed by North Korean Defense Minister No Kwang Chol upon his arrival at Pyongyang International Airport outside Pyongyang, North Korea Friday, Nov.29, 2024. (Russian Defense Press Service via AP)
In this photo taken from a video released by the Russian Defense Ministry press service, Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, left, is welcomed by North Korean Defense Minister No Kwang Chol upon his arrival at Pyongyang International Airport outside Pyongyang, North Korea Friday, Nov.29, 2024. (Russian Defense Press Service via AP)
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Russian Defense Minister Visits North Korea to Talk with Military and Political Leaders

In this photo taken from a video released by the Russian Defense Ministry press service, Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, left, is welcomed by North Korean Defense Minister No Kwang Chol upon his arrival at Pyongyang International Airport outside Pyongyang, North Korea Friday, Nov.29, 2024. (Russian Defense Press Service via AP)
In this photo taken from a video released by the Russian Defense Ministry press service, Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, left, is welcomed by North Korean Defense Minister No Kwang Chol upon his arrival at Pyongyang International Airport outside Pyongyang, North Korea Friday, Nov.29, 2024. (Russian Defense Press Service via AP)

Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov arrived in North Korea on Friday for talks with North Korean military and political leaders as the countries deepen their alignment over Russia’s war on Ukraine.
The defense ministry in announcing the visit didn’t specify who Belousov would be meeting or the purpose of the talks. North Korean state media didn’t immediately confirm the visit.
Belousov, a former economist, replaced Sergei Shoigu as defense minister in May after Russian President Vladimir Putin started a fifth term in power.
The visit came days after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol met with a Ukrainian delegation led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov in the South Korean capital of Seoul and called for the two countries to formulate countermeasures in response to North Korea’s dispatch of thousands of troops to Russia in support of its fight against Ukraine.
The United States and its allies have said North Korea has sent more than 10,000 soldiers to Russia in recent weeks and that some of those troops were engaging in combat.
North Korea has also been accused of supplying artillery systems, missiles and other military equipment to Russia that may help Russian President Vladmir Putin further extend an almost three-year war. There are also concerns in Seoul that North Korea in exchange for its troops and arms supplies could receive Russian technology transfers that could potentially advance the threat posed by leader Kim Jong Un’s nuclear weapons and missile program.
Yoon’s national security adviser, Shin Wonsik, said in a TV interview last week that Seoul assesses that Russia has provided air defense missile systems to North Korea in exchange for sending its troops.
Shin said Russia has also appeared to have given economic assistance to North Korea and various military technologies, including those needed for the North’s efforts to build a reliable space-based surveillance system. Shin didn’t say whether Russia has already transferred sensitive nuclear weapons and ballistic missile technologies to North Korea.
The Russian media report about Belousov’s visit came as South Korea scrambled fighter jets to repel six Russian and five Chinese warplanes that temporarily entered the country’s air defense identification zone around its eastern and southern seas, according to the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. The joint chiefs said the Russian and Chinese planes did not breach South Korea’s territorial airspace.