MOGADISHU, March 23 (Xinhua) -- At least four Somali government soldiers including a commandant were on Sunday evening killed and two others injured in a bomb blast in the outskirts of Mogadishu, an officer confirmed.
Abdi Ahmed Yusuf, the deputy governor of Lower Shabelle region told journalists on Monday that an improvised explosive device planted on the road linking Mogadishu to Afgoye exploded causing deaths of Afgoye district police chief Abdulkadir Osman Nunow and three of his security officers.
"Abdulkadir Osman Nunow, the commander of the police forces in Afgoye and three other soldiers accompanying him died in the blast while two other soldiers got wounded," Yusuf said.
"Security forces have now reached the area conducting operations," he added.
The al-Qaida allied group al-Shabab militants, who have been staging large scale sporadic attacks on government and AU mission installations including public places, claimed responsibility for the latest blast.
Government spokesman Ismael Mukhtar Omar also confirmed the death of the regional police chief alongside his three bodyguards in a roadside blast that targeted their vehicle.
Government forces had been deployed to the road linking Mogadishu to Afgoye after consecutive bomb blasts in the area, but the militants are still capable of carrying out attacks.
The latest attack comes barely a week after Somali forces backed by the international partners carried out a joint operation in the southern Somali town of Janale, killing 15 al-Shabab militants.
