Incidents of car bombs, IEDs, RCIEDs and SVBIED have been on the rise in the Somalia’s capital Mogadishu. The Somalia based Islamist group, Al-Shabaab has scaled up the use of the mentioned improvised explosives as preferred attack types followed by indiscriminate gun fire to maximize casualties.
From last week, Al-Shabaab has claimed more than a dozen improvised explosive attacks from across the districts of Mogadishu targeting on government officials and establishments. However, dozens of innocent civilians have not been spared in these attacks. For instance, a SVBIED attack on Elite beach hotel in Mogadishu was targeted at government and foreign troops and officials, but out of 16 killed and 28 wounded, more than half of the number were Somali civilians.
Joint CT-operators have also stepped up operations to counter the militant’s attacks which are gaining momentum.
Somali Special Forces following on intelligence tip-off seized an explosives-laden car in Gandarshe, Lower Shabelle about 30kilometers southwest of the capital Mogadishu. The commander of the 16th Danab Commandos, Colonel Ismail Abdi Malik Maalin, confirmed to the media that the troops had seized a vehicle loaded with explosives en route to Mogadishu.
