25 killed in Somalia Suicide Blast

Mogadishu: As many as 25 people were killed and several others hurt in a suicide blast in the Somalian capital of Mogadishu.

Government spokesman Ismael Mukhtar Omar told news men that a suicide bomber detonated a car bomb at the checkpoint on Afgoye road. Omar said, adding that among the dead were several students. A police officer at the scene said the blast was targeted at a tax office on the road. “As officials were checking cars passing the road, a car suddenly exploded, causing casualties and damage.”

Mogadishu has witnessed repeated attacks from Al Shabab, a militant organization that pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda in 2012 and controls parts Somalia.

It fights for establishing an Islamic state following the `Wahabi` ideology of Islamic Puritanism.