Emergency workers used bulldozers to clear the debris as they retrieved bodies
\nBeledweyne
\nA suicide bomber killed 13 people and wounded dozens more in central Somalia Saturday after driving a truck packed with explosives towards a security checkpoint, triggering a blast that razed nearby buildings, police said.
\nEmergency workers used bulldozers to clear the debris as they retrieved bodies and rescued people trapped under rubble after the blast in the town of Beledweyne in Hiran region.
\n\u201cWhat has happened here is a heinous act,\u201d Abdulahi Ahmed Malim, the governor of Hiran, told reporters at the scene.
\n\u201cThis was a disaster today and the damage it has inflicted is not small, it destroyed the whole area,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have recovered the dead bodies of 13 people, most of them civilians who stayed nearby,\u201d Ahmed Yare Adan, a local police officer, told AFP by phone.
\n\u201cThere are about 45 wounded people admitted in medical facilities… some of these people are seriously wounded and they are all civilians,\u201d he said.
\nThe attack came after Somalia\u2019s beleaguered government admitted to suffering \u201cseveral significant setbacks\u201d in its fight against Al-Shabaab militants.
\nThe Islamist fighters have waged an insurgency for over 15 years to overthrow the fragile internationally backed government in Mogadishu.
\nThere was no immediate claim of responsibility for Saturday\u2019s bombing.
\nPolice officer Abdukadir Yasin, who rushed to the scene after the blast, said rescuers were pulling wounded victims to safety from under the rubble.
\n\u201cThe destruction caused is immense, more than 10 dead bodies were confirmed already and the death toll can be higher,\u201d he said.
\nResidents told AFP the explosion caused houses to collapse, burying people under debris while they were at home.
\n\u201cThe whole town is shocked,\u201d said Abdifatah Hassan, a resident of the neighbourhood.
\nAn African Union (AU) force deployed in Somalia in 2007 with a six-month mandate but still remains on the ground. The government is now seeking to delay a planned reduction of foreign troops by three months.
\nUN resolutions call for the African Union Transition in Somalia (ATMIS) force to be reduced to zero by the end of next year, handing over security to the Somali army and police.
\nSomali troops launched a major offensive against the Al-Qaeda affiliated Al-Shabaab in central Somalia in August last year. They joined forces with local clan militias in an operation backed by the AU force and US air strikes.
\nSomali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud took office in May last year vowing \u201call-out war\u201d against Al-Shabaab, who were driven from Mogadishu in 2011 but control swathes of the countryside.
\nMohamud, who has recently been visiting the frontline, said in August that government would \u201celiminate\u201d the jihadists by the end of the year.
\nBut Somalia\u2019s national security adviser recently wrote to the United Nations requesting a 90-day delay to the planned pullout of 3,000 AU troops by the end of September.
\nIn the letter, seen by AFP, he said the government had \u201cmanaged to re-liberate towns, villages and critical supply routes\u201d during its offensive but had suffered \u201cseveral significant setbacks\u201d since late August.
\n\u201cThis unforeseen turn of events has stretched our military forces thin, exposed vulnerabilities in our frontlines and necessitated a thorough reorganisation to ensure we maintain our momentum in countering the Al-Shabaab threat,\u201d the letter said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Emergency workers used bulldozers to clear the debris as they retrieved bodies Beledweyne A suicide bomber killed 13 people and wounded dozens more in central Somalia Saturday after driving a truck packed with explosives towards a security checkpoint, triggering a blast that razed nearby buildings, police said. Emergency workers used bulldozers to clear the debris […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358097,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-358068","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n