Five injured in Somalia as suicide car bomber hits checkpoint at Mogadishu port

At least five persons were reportedly injured early on Saturday as a suicide car bomber drove into a checkpoint just outside the port of the Somali capital of Mogadishu.

Although the police made no immediate comment on casualties, witnesses confirmed the report.

A nurse at the city’s Madina hospital, Halima Nur, said the hospital had received five people injured in the blast for treatment.

“Metal debris fell all over us inside the port and we heard gunfire,” said a port worker who sought anonymity for security reasons. “Security forces have surrounded the area.”

The blast shook the ground, said Mohammed Ali, a shopkeeper in the area.

Somalia has been mired in conflict since 1991, when clan warlords overthrew dictator Siad Barre and then turned on each other.

Since 2008, the Islamist militant group al Shabaab has been fighting to overthrow the central government and establish its rule based on its own harsh interpretation of Islam’s sharia law.

Reuters