Al-Shebab detonates bomb on UN employee bus in Somalia

At least six UN workers were killed in Somalia on Monday when a bomb destroyed their bus in the northeastern town of Garowe. Somalia’s Al-Qaeda-affiliated Shebab insurgents claimed responsibility for the attack, branding the United Nations a “colonisation force in Somalia”. The head of the United Nations in Somalia, Nick Kay, condemned the attack and said he was “shocked and appalled by (the) loss of life”.

We have confirmed the death of six UN staff, including a foreign national. The bomb is believed to have been attached to the minibus and was detonated near the UN office.

Somali police official Abdullahi Mohamed

Witnesses and security officials suggested the explosion could also have come from a roadside bomb that was detonated as the minibus, which is used to transport staff from a guesthouse to the UN compound, was passing. Attacks against the United Nations are also common. In the latest attacks, Shebab gunmen shot dead a Puntland lawmaker, Adan Haji Hussein on Saturday and on Sunday militants killed three AU troops in an ambush in the south of the war-ravaged country.