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Suicide Attack In Somalia Kills Seven, Including Politicians

A suicide bomber killed seven people, including three Somali lawmakers in Dusamareb today. Reuters reports that al Shabaab — the Islamic militant group — took responsibility.

Reuters adds:

"While suicide bombers sent by al Shabaab militants have struck government targets and African Union troops in the capital Mogadishu often in recent years, such attacks are rare in central Galgadud region.

"The delegation of lawmakers was in Dusamareb to discuss how to form local administrations in the central region of Galgadud, as part of political reforms meant to bring a string of transition governments to an end with elections in August."

This attack follows a bombing at a Mogadishu Theater that halted a tenuous calm in the country. As we reported, the country, which has been at the center of a fierce civil war for the past 21 years, had been making some progress lately.

The BBC has some detail on today's attack:

"MP Dahir Amin Jesow, who was part of the delegation, told the BBC the attacker was a young man who approached the group casually chewing the mild narcotic leaf khat.

"Once he was among the group, he detonated an explosive device shouting 'Allahu Akbar (God is great)'.

"Somali Prime Minster Abdiweli Mohamed Ali condemned the bombing, telling the BBC it was 'an act of terrorism'."

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Eyder Peralta
Eyder Peralta is NPR's East Africa correspondent based in Nairobi, Kenya.