Roadside bomb kills 4 soldiers in town near Mogadishu

January 24, 2017 3:38 PM

The blast in Afgoye took place a day after the al Shabaab group carried out a raid in the same town.

A military boot is seen at the scene of a suicide car bomb attack by al Shabaab in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, Somalia, September 18, 2016. REUTERS/Feisal Omar

No fewer than four soldiers were killed and five wounded on Tuesday when a roadside bomb that Islamist insurgents said they planted exploded outside a military camp in a town near Mogadishu, officials said.

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The blast in Afgoye, about 30 km (18 miles) southwest of the capital, took place a day after the al Shabaab group carried out a raid in the same town that was repulsed by government troops, Maj. Osman Abdulle, a police officer, told Reuters.

“Last night, we repulsed the militants who attacked us.

“They must have planted the bomb,” he said.

Al Shabaab, which has been waging an insurgency across Somalia, claimed responsibility for the bombing. The group is fighting to topple the Western-backed government in Mogadishu.

“We planted the bomb last night. At least seven soldiers died,”Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, the group’s military operations spokesman, told Reuters.