Police officer among injured in Somali attack

[Burco Boss]

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - An unidentified man hurled an explosive device at a fuel-seller's stall in the north of the Somali capital and injured at least five people, including a police officer, a witness said on Monday.

Since the transitional government moved into the capital, Mogadishu, in December, the city has experienced almost daily attacks, mainly on government buildings, Somali security and Ethiopian forces. Ethiopian soldiers had helped Somali troops drive an Islamic group that wanted to rule by the Qur’an out of Mogadishu and southern Somalia.

"A pickup with tinted windows passed by and someone inside hurled a bomb at our fuel stall, which exploded near us and injuring five people, including one police officer," Salad Ma'alin Mohamed, a fuel seller, said by telephone.

It was not possible to independently confirm what kind of device was thrown. In Somali, the word for bomb and grenade is the same.

Officials were not immediately available for comment.

Dozens of gunmen hired by residents arrived at the scene and fired into the air to disperse a crowd that had rushed to the scene of the blast, said Mohamed.

The scene of the blast is near a street that leads to the presidential palace.

Somalia has not had an effective national government since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on one another, throwing the country into anarchy. The transitional government was formed in 2004 with UN help.