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Al-Shabab Attack Kills 8 as US Launches Record Airstrikes in 2019

VOA News

   Abdiwahid Moalim Ishaq contributed to this report from Galkayo.

   The al-Shabab militant group claimed responsibility for a suicide car
   bomb that targeted military commanders in the central Somali town of
   Galkayo, killing at least eight people and wounding 55 others Saturday
   evening.

   Witnesses told VOA Somali that the vehicle exploded as the military
   officials were leaving a hotel to attend a reconciliation meeting.

   Commander of Somali land forces Brigadier General Abdihamid Mohamed
   Dirir and commander of the 21st Division General Abdulaziz Abdullahi
   Qoje survived the attack.

   Officials said four civilians and four soldiers were killed in the
   explosion.

   "At about 8:30pm last night this car you see its remains exploded, it
   was targeting military vehicles," says the Mayor of Galkayo's southern
   half Hersi Yusuf Barre. "There is a significant casualties, a lot of
   civilians were hurt."

   Residents started cleaning up the site and collected the body of the
   suicide bomber for burial.

   A doctor at Galkayo hospital Mohamed Abdi Ahmed told VOA Somali some of
   the injured are in serious condition.

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