Mogadishu mayor escapes bomb attack

[Hiiraan boy]

(SomaliNet) Mogadishu’s Mayor Mohamed Omar Habeb ‘Mohamed Dhere’ said on Sunday that he has escaped an assassination attempt after an attack on his convoy in north of Mogadishu.

A bomb exploded around 7:10 am local time near Mohamud Ahmed Ali high school in north of Mogadishu where a convoy carrying the city’s mayor was passing.

Two civilians were confirmed to have been killed and two others were wounded in the blast which caused by a roadside bomb. Unconfirmed reports say that the civilians were killed by the bullets fired by the government soldiers when the explosion occurred.

In a news conference held in the capital this morning soon after the blast Mohamed Dhere admitted that he had survived the bomb explosion that was targeted on his convoy saying it was a terrorist attack carried out by the remnants of the ousted Islamists.

“The bomb was hidden in a plastic sheet and laid on the road and went off but fortunately no government soldiers was hurt in that explosion except the civilian casualty. My guards immediately found and killed the attacker who was on a tree near the site of the blast,” said Mohamed Dhere.

He blamed the latest bomb attack on what he called the remnants of the routed out Islamists who are still hiding in Mogadishu.

It is the first attack on a convoy carrying the mayor of Mogadishu and governor of Banadir province Mohamed Dhere since he was appointed for the post.

“We are still on the offensive in the fight against the terrorists and we are cracking down the rest that are hiding in Bakara market,” added Mohamed Dhere. He said earlier the government soldiers foiled several bomb attacks found in nine places in the capital.

On Thursday, a bomb exploded as Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi's convoy was on its way to the capital's airport, but no one was injured and no vehicles were damaged.

Meanwhile, Mogadishu mayor said its authority is conducting wider campaign on cleaning the rubbish from the city.

All the business centers alongside the roads of the capital were ordered to clean muddy sand and rubbish from their outdoors.