Twin car bombs killed 18 people in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu on Friday (Feb 23) in an attack by the Islamist militant group Al-Shabaab, but security forces shot dead five assailants, officials said.
Shooting broke out near the president’s residence at the time of the explosions, police and ambulance services said.
“So far we carried 18 dead people and 20 others injured from the blasts tonight,” Abdikadir Abdirahman, the director of Amin Ambulances, told media.