Somali government spokesman injured in ‘odious terrorist attack,’ PM says

By Stephanie Busari and Sharon Braithwaite, CNN

A Somali government spokesman was injured on Sunday in an “odious terrorist attack,” the country’s Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble said.

The Prime Minister “strongly condemns the odious terrorist attack targeting Government Spokesman, Mr Mohamed Ibrahim Moalimu who sustained injuries today but is in [a] stable condition,” the Somali Prime Minister said Sunday on Twitter. He also wished Moalimu a “quick recovery.”

State media outlet SNTV News reported on Sunday that Moalimu was injured “in a cowardly terrorist suicide attack [that] targeted his car,” in Waaberi, a district of the Banaadir region of Somalia.

Waaberi district is a neighborhood in the southwestern part of the capital city Mogadishu.

While the state media report did not name a suspect or organization responsible for the attack, Somalia has been racked by terrorism from militant group Al-Shabaab — an affiliate of al Qaeda — in recent years.

In March 2021, Al-Shabaab claimed responsiblity for a car bomb blast that killed at least 20 people in Mogadishu. Two years earlier, the group claimed a truck bombing that killed 85 people outside the country’s capital.

The director of communications of the Somali Presidency Abdirashid M. Hashi also tweeted good wishes for Moalimu.

“I have received with shock the news of the heinous attack this morning. I am deeply hurt knowing your sacrifice and input to help improve Government communications following your successful contribution to our Somali Media,” Hashi said on Twitter.

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