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.



Russia Launches Nearly 150 Drones against Ukraine as Trump Doubts Putin's Desire for Peace

A view shows ruins of buildings in the abandoned town of Marinka (Maryinka), which was destroyed in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict in the Donetsk region, a Russian-controlled area of Ukraine, April 1, 2025. (Reuters)
A view shows ruins of buildings in the abandoned town of Marinka (Maryinka), which was destroyed in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict in the Donetsk region, a Russian-controlled area of Ukraine, April 1, 2025. (Reuters)
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Russia Launches Nearly 150 Drones against Ukraine as Trump Doubts Putin's Desire for Peace

A view shows ruins of buildings in the abandoned town of Marinka (Maryinka), which was destroyed in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict in the Donetsk region, a Russian-controlled area of Ukraine, April 1, 2025. (Reuters)
A view shows ruins of buildings in the abandoned town of Marinka (Maryinka), which was destroyed in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict in the Donetsk region, a Russian-controlled area of Ukraine, April 1, 2025. (Reuters)

Russia launched a sweeping drone assault across Ukraine overnight into Sunday, targeting multiple regions, officials said, after US President Donald Trump cast doubt over Russian President Vladimir Putin’s willingness to end the war.

One person was killed and a 14-year-old girl wounded in the city of Pavlohrad in the Dnipropetrovsk region, which was hit for the third consecutive night, regional Gov. Serhii Lysak said.

The attacks came hours after Russia claimed to have regained control over the remaining parts of the Kursk region, which Ukrainian forces seized in a surprise incursion last August. Ukrainian officials said the fighting in Kursk was still ongoing, The AP news reported.

Trump said Saturday that he doubts Putin wants to end the more than three-year war in Ukraine, expressing new skepticism that a peace deal can be reached soon. Only a day earlier, Trump had said Ukraine and Russia were “ very close to a deal.”

“There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days,” Trump wrote in a social media post as he flew back to the United States after attending Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican, where he met briefly with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump also hinted at further sanctions against Russia.

The Trump-Zelenskyy conversation on the sidelines of the pope’s funeral was the first face-to-face encounter between the two leaders since they argued during a heated Oval Office meeting at the White House in late February.

Russia fired 149 exploding drones and decoys in the latest wave of attacks, the Ukrainian air force said, adding that 57 were intercepted and another 67 jammed.

One person was wounded in drone attacks on the Odesa region and one other in the city of Zhytomyr. Four people were also wounded in a Russian airstrike on the city of Kherson on Sunday morning, according to local officials.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Sunday that air defenses shot down five Ukrainian drones in the border region of Bryansk, as well as three drones over the Crimean peninsula, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.

Five people were wounded when Ukrainian forces shelled the city of Horlivka in the partially occupied Donetsk region, the city’s Russian-installed Mayor Ivan Prikhodko said.