A bomb exploded on Saturday near the palace of President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed in Mogadishu, killing three Somalis including a policeman, witnesses said.
The explosion struck a police vehicle, killing the officer and two civilians who were walking nearby, said Farah Hasan Sahal, an eyewitness. “My nephew is one of the civilians killed,” said Mohamed Ali Qoje. “He was going to Bakara market when the explosion hit him.”
Five people died this week in separate attacks blamed on Islamist insurgents ousted last year by Ethiopia-backed government forces, sparking near-daily ambushes by the rebels. Also on Saturday, a landmine hit an African Union (AU) peacekeepers convoy near the Mogadishu port in the south of the city.
“We don’t have details yet, but a landmine hit one of our vehicles near the sea port and some of our forces were injured,” said Bahuko Baridgye, spokesman of the AU force. Baridgye told AFP that the injured soldiers were Ugandans, who alongside Burundian troops currently make up the AU force in Somalia which is ultimately to number around 8,000 soldiers. The troubled Horn of Africa nation has been plagued by civil unrest since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.