A Somalia regional governor said that a suicide car bomb that targeted an African Union peacekeeping convoy outside Mogadishu on Monday killed 12 civilians and wounded other people, including two soldiers.
Abdikadir Sidi, who is Governor of the Lower Shabelle Region South of Mogadishu, said he escaped death by a whisker, because he was driving behind the convoy at the time of the blast.
He said he saw three civilian vehicles in the same area and more than 12 people were killed in another minibus.
Maj. Hussein Ahmed, a senior military officer confirmed that AU convoy and several public buses were in the area when the bomb detonated, leaving two civilian buses badly damaged.
“I have counted three dead bodies and the death toll is sure to rise,” he said.
