At Least Five Killed in Blast, Attack Near Mogadishu Mayor’s Office

A Somali policeman stands holds his position near the mayor's office following a blast in Mogadishu, Somalia January 22, 2023. (Reuters)
A Somali policeman stands holds his position near the mayor's office following a blast in Mogadishu, Somalia January 22, 2023. (Reuters)
TT
20

At Least Five Killed in Blast, Attack Near Mogadishu Mayor’s Office

A Somali policeman stands holds his position near the mayor's office following a blast in Mogadishu, Somalia January 22, 2023. (Reuters)
A Somali policeman stands holds his position near the mayor's office following a blast in Mogadishu, Somalia January 22, 2023. (Reuters)

At least five civilians were killed when extremist fighters set off a bomb then stormed a government building in Somalia's capital on Sunday, the ministry of information said.

Attackers from the al Shabaab group charged into the block that houses the office of Mogadishu's mayor around noon and got caught in a firefight with security forces, the ministry and witnesses said.

Security killed six of the militants and cleared the area by about 6 p.m., the ministry said on its Facebook page.

Al Shabaab has stepped up attacks in a show of resilience since President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud's government launched an offensive against the al-Qaeda-linked group in August.

"We were in the office and we were deafened by a blast. We ran out. Gunfire followed," Farah Abdullahi, who works in the mayor's office, told Reuters.

Sixteen people were injured in the attack, Abdikadir Abdirahman, director of Aamin Ambulance Services, said.

The mayor's office is in the local government headquarters building in a well-guarded area of Mogadishu.

Roads in the area have concrete barriers and multiple roadblocks. The building is about 1.5 km (1 mile) away from Villa Somalia, the president's office.

Al Shabaab said in a statement its suicide bombers struck, "then foot fighters entered the building after killing the building guards".

Al Shabaab, which has been fighting the government since 2006, frequently carries out bombings and gun attacks across the country.

In a sign the government was expanding its offensive against the group into the country's south, state TV for Jubbaland, one of the country's semi-autonomous states, reported on Sunday that regional and Somalia federal forces had launched attacks on al Shabaab and taken control of Janay Abdale town from the militants.



At Least 12 Dead in Indonesia Bus Crash

People inspect the wreckage of a passenger bus after it sped out of control on a downhill road and overturned in Padang Panjang, West Sumatra province, Indonesia, Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (AP Photo/M.Sulthan Azzam)
People inspect the wreckage of a passenger bus after it sped out of control on a downhill road and overturned in Padang Panjang, West Sumatra province, Indonesia, Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (AP Photo/M.Sulthan Azzam)
TT
20

At Least 12 Dead in Indonesia Bus Crash

People inspect the wreckage of a passenger bus after it sped out of control on a downhill road and overturned in Padang Panjang, West Sumatra province, Indonesia, Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (AP Photo/M.Sulthan Azzam)
People inspect the wreckage of a passenger bus after it sped out of control on a downhill road and overturned in Padang Panjang, West Sumatra province, Indonesia, Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (AP Photo/M.Sulthan Azzam)

A bus carrying 34 passengers sped out of control on a downhill road and overturned in Indonesia’s West Sumatra province on Tuesday, killing at least 12 people and leaving others injured, police said.
The inter-province bus was on its way to Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, from Medan in North Sumatra province when its brakes apparently malfunctioned near a bus terminal in West Sumatra’s Padang city, said Reza Chairul Akbar Sidiq, the director of West Sumatra traffic police.
The Associated Press quoted him as saying that police were still investigating the cause of the accident, but survivors told authorities that the driver lost control of the vehicle in an area with a number of steep hills in Padang after the brakes malfunctioned.
The 12 bodies, including those of two children, were mostly pinned under the overturned bus, Sidiq said. All the victims, including 23 injured people, were taken to two nearby hospitals, he said.
Thirteen of the injured were treated for serious injuries, Sidiq said. The driver was among those in critical condition.
Local television footage showed the mangled bus on its side, surrounded by rescuers from the National Search and Rescue Agency, police and passersby as ambulances evacuated the injured victims and the dead.
Road accidents are common in Indonesia because of poor safety standards and infrastructure.