While terrorists continue to undermine the lives of those they coldly take, security forces are also more than determined to end their acts and are watching their moves day and night.
To some good news in the hunt,the mastermind of militant car bombs that killed 26 people and injured nearly 40 others in Mogadishu in 2017 was executed in Somalia on Monday, the prosecutor of the military court said.
Abdulle Bule said al Shabaab member Abdikadir Abukar was convicted of being behind a hotel bombing that killed 10, one near the ministry of sport that killed nine, and a car bomb near an Italian restaurant in the capital that killed seven.
Al Shabaab wants to overthrow the weak, U.N.-backed Somali government and impose strict Islamic law.It has steadily been losing territory since African Union peace keepers arrived a decade ago, but still carries out frequent bombings in the capital.
On Saturday a vehicle packed with explosives was detonated at a military checkpoint near Somalia’s presidential palace, killing at least 16 people and wounding more than 20 others, police said.
The al-Qaida-linked al-Shabaab, which often targets Mogadishu, has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Those killed include three members of staff from the London-based Universal TV station, including the prominent journalist Awil Dahir Salad, police spokesman Mohamed Hussein said.
The bomber targeted the checkpoint near the rear entrance of the heavily fortified palace, Hussein said. An MP and a deputy mayor of Mogadishu were among those wounded, he added.
Soldiers also were among the dead, Col Ahmed Mohamud said.