[ARABNEWS] At least 18 people were killed in Somalia on Saturday in two kabooms carried out by suspected Shabaab holy warriors in the south of the country and the capital Mogadishu, officials said.In the first attack, a jacket wallah drove a vehicle laden with explosives into a base on the outskirts of the southern city of Kismayo, where African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
peacekeepers from Kenya as well as Somali government soldiers are stationed.
In a second attack late Saturday, at least four civilians died when a boom-mobile went off near a cop shoppe in Mogadishu, officials said.
"A minibus loaded with explosives exploded inside the training part of the military camp," Mohammed Abisalad, a Somali military official in Kismayo, told AFP.
"Fourteen soldiers were confirmed dead and more than 20 maimed," he added.
Witnesses said the maimed soldiers were admitted to Kismayo's main hospital. Eyewitness Adan Hussein also said at least 10 soldiers died in the attack.
In the Mogadishu attack, police official Abdullah Osoble said four people were killed and at least 10 others were maimed when a boom-mobile went off near a cop shoppe and also a settlement used by displaced persons.
The Al-Qaeda-affiliated Shabaab said it carried out the Kismayo attack, and said the corpse count was significantly higher than reported -- claiming that 100 "apostate militia," the term it uses for Somali government troops, died.
The Shabaab said in a statement the attack was "carried out by one of the brave Mujahedeen suicide kaboomers who drove his vehicle through the enemy inside a training camp and detonated."