Click to see the full-size image
On December 14, a suicide bomber attacked the General Kahiye Police Training Academy in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, according to Reuters.
Somalia deputy police commander Muktar Hussein Afrah revealed that 18 Somali policemen were killed and 15 others were injured in the terrorists attack.
“Police were preparing for the 74th anniversary of police day. As they wanted to start exercise, a suicide bomber came in and blew up himself. We lost 18 police officers and 15 others were injured,” Afrah said, according to Reuters.
Somali officials said that the suicide bomber managed to enter the police training academy because he was wearing an official uniform of the Somali Police.
Abdiasis Abu Musab spokesman for the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabaab group announced al-Shabaab was behind the attack and claimed that 27 Somali policemen were killed, according to Reuters.
“We killed 27 police (officers) and injured more,” Abu Musab said.
The Al-Shabaab attack came only hours after a US airstrike that destroyed a VBIED of al-Shabaab 64km southwest of the city of Mogadishu. The United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) said in an official statement on December 13 that the airstrike removed “an imminent threat to the people of Mogadishu”.
While the US airstrike saved Mogadishu citizen from a bigger terrorist attack, it didn’t stop al-Shabaab from carrying on their terrorist plans. This proves that Somalia needs a more serious stand against al-Shabaab if the international community is indeed serious about defeating it.