Senior Police officer escapes assassination bid in Somalia

[Deeq A.]

The second assassination attempt in a week on a senior Somali police officer ended Sunday in the Somali capital Mogadishu with a narrow escape by the officer.

Ali Hirsi Barise (Gaab), the head of health department of the Somali police forces escaped death after a roadside bomb targeted his vehicle in the capital Mogadishu.

An eyewitness said the explosion occurred at Aviazione neighborhood in the capital’s Waberi district and could be heard through the area and sent massive plumes of smoke into the sky.

“The blast which resulted from a bomb apparently planted on the roadside wounded two civilians and destroyed the vehicle” he added.

The blast comes barely four days after a similar bomb attack targeted his vehicle at Banadir junction in Mogadishu’s Hodan district killing three of his bodyguards.

Alshabab claimed responsibility for the attack saying the group targeted the senior police officer Ali Gaab.

The war-torn Horn of Africa country continues to be riven by violence between government forces, al-Shabbab fighters and other armed groups.

Al-Shabab was ejected from Mogadishu in 2011 and has since been driven from most of its other strongholds.

However, it still carries out frequent attacks across Somalia, as well as in neighbouring Kenya, whose soldiers form part of African Union-mandated peacekeeping forces that help defend the Somali government.