MOGADISHU: Five people were killed in a suicide bombing targeting a military training camp in Somalia, army officials said on Sunday, in an attack claimed by Al Shabaab jihadists one week after twin blasts left 116 dead.

Saturday’s attack on the camp in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu came as the government intensifies its fight against the Islamists who have led a 15-year insurgency in the troubled Horn of Africa nation.

“The suicide bomb explosion occurred at the entrance and five new recruits died in the blast, more than ten others were wounded,” military officer Mohamed Abdullahi said.

Army official Adan Yare also said five people had died in the attack, which left several injured. “Among the casualties are civilians who stayed near” the Xero Nacnac training camp for army recruits, he said.

There was no official statement from the government about the attack, which was claimed by Al Shabaab.

The Al Qaeda-linked fighters have stepped up their attacks in Somalia since President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud took office in May and vowed an “all-out war” against the jihadists.

On Friday, the ministry of information said the army had killed more than 100 Al Shabaab fighters in an operation in central Hirshabelle state.

Last weekend, the militants carried out twin car bombings targeting the education ministry in the deadliest assault on the country in five years.

The attack took place at the same junction where a truck packed with explosives blew up on October 14, 2017, killing 512 people and injuring more than 290, the deadliest attack in Somalia.

In August, the group launched a 30-hour gun and bomb attack on the popular Hayat hotel in Mogadishu, killing 21 people and wounding 117.

The insurgents, who have been seeking to overthrow the fragile foreign-backed government in Mogadishu, were driven out of the capital in 2011 by an African Union force.

But the group still controls swathes of countryside and continues to wage deadly strikes on civilian, political and military targets.

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2022