MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, at least a dozen people were killed when two vehicles exploded on the way to a base for African Union peacekeepers near Mogadishu International Airport. According to media reports, the Islamic militant group al-Shabaab was behind the explosions.
"Al-Shabaab have once again carried out a ruthless attack that has claimed the lives of at least a dozen Somalis. The overwhelming majority of Somalis have rejected such terrorist tactics and the use of violence to achieve political objectives. This horrific incident is a fresh example of the extremists’ desperate attempts to disrupt political progress," Keating was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the UN office in Geneva.
Somalia has been experiencing violence since the country devolved into a civil war in the early 1990s. The state’s collapse provided a breeding ground for warlords, pirates and the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabaab.