Somali president survives Al Shabaab bomb attack on motorcade

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud escaped unharmed after Al Shabaab militants targeted his motorcade in a bomb attack in the capital, Mogadishu, on March 18, the Islamist group claimed.

Two senior government and military officials confirmed to Reuters that the president was safe following the attack, Caliber.Az reports.

Presidential adviser Zakariye Hussein also reassured the public in a post on X, stating that Mohamud was "good and well on his way to the front lines,"

Witnesses, including soldiers and local residents, confirmed that the presidential convoy was hit in the assault. A Reuters journalist at the scene reported seeing the bodies of four individuals killed in the attack near the presidential palace.

Al Shabaab, an al Qaeda-linked militant group, said in a statement on its Telegram channel that its fighters had specifically targeted the convoy as it departed the presidential palace en route to the airport. The group has waged a long-running insurgency against the Somali government but has not directly targeted Mohamud since 2014, when it bombed a hotel where he was speaking during his first term in office.

Despite the attack, Mohamud continued his schedule. Hours later, state media broadcast footage of the president in the Adan Yabal district of the Middle Shabelle region, where government forces are engaged in an ongoing battle against a three-week-old Al Shabaab offensive.

By Khagan Isayev