Suicide blast hits Somali army base
A suicide bomber has blown up a car at an army base in Somalia, local police have said.
Five soldiers were wounded in the blast in the blast in the town of Afgoye, Somali police said, with only the bomber dying.
Officer Mohamed Farah said the bomber detonated the car after soldiers intercepted the vehicle and started shooting at him.
Witnesses said they heard a large explosion followed by billowing smoke.
Afgoye was recently liberated from the control of an al Qaida-linked militant group.
African Union and Somali troops seized the town on the outskirts of Mogadishu from al-Shabab militants after three days of fighting last month, marking the biggest victory over al-Shabab since the pro-government forces took control of the capital last August.
Somalia has not had an effective central government since 1991.
More than 300,000 internally displaced Somalis live in and around Afgoye, 20 miles north of Mogadishu, the capital.
Al-Shabab militants ambushed a convoy of vehicles carrying Somalia’s president Sharif Ahmed late last month according to the African Union (AU), but the attack was repelled.
The AU said the attack on the president’s convoy happened as the president was travelling from Afgoye back to Mogadishu. The president later returned safely to the capital.
