A suicide bomber detonated explosives in a restaurant in the Somalian town of Baidoa and another blast struck a hotel nearby, leaving at least 16 people dead and more than 30 wounded, authorities said on Saturday.
Most of the casualties were in the restaurant after the bomber walked in with explosives strapped around his waist, Colonel Ahmed Muse told reporters.
Many of the wounded at Baidoa’s main hospital had horrific injuries, nurse Mohamed Isaq said.
Photo: EPA
The al-Shabaab group claimed responsibility for the blasts via its radio arm, Andalus.
It said one blast targeted a hotel owned by former Somalian minister of finance Mohamed Aden Fargeti, one of several candidates running for the presidency of the region in next month’s election.
Baidoa is a key economic center about 250km west of the capital, Mogadishu, and about the same distance east of the Ethiopian border.
Al-Shabaab, which controlled Baidoa between 2009 and 2012 before being driven out by Ethiopian-backed government forces, still holds parts of southern and central Somalia.
The blasts came a day before Somalia marks the first anniversary of the deadliest attack in its history, a truck bombing that killed more than 500 people in Mogadishu.
Attention in recent days has turned to Baidoa, the interim capital of South West State, as high-level al-Shabaab defector Mukhtar Robow seeks the regional presidency.
On Saturday, he visited some of the wounded people who were in Baidoa’s main hospital, condemning the attacks and calling on people to team up to fight the group of which he was once deputy leader.
Robow is the highest-ranking official to have ever quit al-Shabaab, surrendering to the Somali government last year after the US canceled a US$5 million reward offered for his capture.
The Somalian government earlier this month said Robow was not eligible to run for the regional presidency because he is still under US sanctions that were imposed against him in 2008 when he was identified as a “specially designated global terrorist.”
Robow, who was yet to respond to the government’s statement, has continued his campaign and remained registered on the list of candidates.
He is among several people challenging former Somali parliament speaker and incumbent South West State President Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden.
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