BREAKING: Suicide Bombing At Mogadishu Military Base Kills At Least 10, Al Shabaab Claims Responsibility

At least 10 people were killed on Sunday when a suicide bomber targeted a queue of young recruits registering at the Damanyo military base in Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital. The militant group al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack.

According to witnesses, teenagers were lining up at the base’s gate when the attacker detonated explosives. Military Captain Suleiman described the incident as he saw it unfold.

“I was on the other side of the road. A speeding tuk-tuk stopped, a man alighted, ran into the queue, and then blew himself up. I saw 10 people dead, including recruits and passers-by. The death toll may rise,” he said.

The scene was scattered with dozens of abandoned shoes and the remains of the suicide bomber. Another witness, Abdisalan Mohamed, recalled seeing “hundreds of teenagers at the gate as we passed by in a bus” before a sudden blast engulfed the area in dense smoke.

Medical staff at the military hospital said they had received 30 injured people from the blast, with six dying immediately.

Government forces quickly secured the area following the explosion.

In a statement released Sunday, al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack, asserting that as many as 30 soldiers were killed and 50 wounded. Government officials have yet to comment.

Al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab has been waging an insurgency in Somalia since 2007, frequently clashing with government forces as it seeks to expand control in central Somalia.

Sunday’s bombing echoed a similar attack in 2023, when a suicide bomber killed 25 soldiers at the nearby Jale Siyad base, located opposite the Damanyo facility.

The recent attack comes just a day after the assassination of Colonel Abdirahmaan Hujaale, commander of battalion 26, in the Hiiran region amid reports of al Shabaab infiltration into government and security forces.