MOGADISHU, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- At least eight people, among them a senior police officer, were killed Monday in a suspected Al-Shabaab ambush at a police checkpoint in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland in northern Somalia.
An official who did not want to be named for security reasons told Xinhua by phone that the attackers ambushed the checkpoint in the outskirts of Bosaso town at around 2 a.m. local time.
"The fighters laid ambush at the police checkpoint and killed eight people. One of them was a police commander while a majority where civilians living nearby who were caught in the crossfire," the source said.
Other sources said women were among the civilians killed.
The attack comes a week after marine forces seized weapons in Bosaso from a boat suspected to have been heading to Al-Shabaab in the area. Al-Shabaab has been known to carry out targeted killings in Puntland but not mass attacks as is the case in Mogadishu.
