Local authorities believe that the bombings, which took place in the city of Mahas, targeted the houses of government officials in charge of counterterrorist operations in Hiran, the Garowe Online news website reported.
Witnesses said that the car explosions took place in front of a restaurant near a district administration building in Mahas. According to one witness, there were women and children among the victims.
The initial reported toll of casualties on Wednesday morning was nine people killed, and many others injured, most of them civilians.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the deadly attack, but it was blamed on Al-Shabaab* jihadist movement, which has been fighting against the Somali government and terrorizing people since 2006.
The terrorist attack came as the country’s armed forces and troops of the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) have intensified military operations against the al-Qaeda*-affiliated al-Shabaab group.
The Somali Armed Forces managed to regain control over some strongholds of al-Shabaab in the south and central regions of the country. Mahas, in the Hiran region, where the Wednesday attack took place, was one of the areas where government and regional forces have pushed al-Shabaab out in recent months.
“The terrorists, after having (been) defeated, resorted to desperately targeting civilians, but this will not stop the will of the people to continue defeating them,” Osman Nur, a police commander in Mahas, said. “They have killed innocent civilians in the explosions.”
Over the past few weeks, the Al-Shabaab terrorist group suffered a series of defeats after the newly-elected government of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud declared an “all-out-war” against the terrorist group.
*Al-Shabaab and Al-Qaeda are terrorist organizations outlawed in Russia and other countries.