At least 15 people were killed after 2 suicide bombers detonated explosive vests. Amina Mohamed Abdi, a female lawmaker in the Somali Federal Parliament’s live was also cut short by the same suicide bombers on Wednesday in the town of Beledweyne, Hiraan.
Amina, a notable critic of the current administration, was killed approaching the building that hosts the leadership of Somalia’s Hirshabele Federal Member State. She was in Beledweyne seeking a re-election for the parliamentary seat HoP#135. Among the dead was also another lawmaker MP Ali Abdi Dhuhul, local politicians and security officials, as per the information the local police spokesperson Hassan Dhi’isow gave to the media.
President Mohamed Farmaajo described the attack as “another cowardly attack by the usual senseless terror groups” who mainly focus on the killing innocent civilians, government officials and other elected leaders.
The President also sent his commiseration and condolences to her bereaved family and prayed for their forbearance to bear the sudden tragedy.
The Prime Minister also has said on social media following the apparent suicide bombing: “I strongly condemn the terrorist attack on Amina Mohamed in Beledweyne tonight.”
He also urged security agencies to carry out a thorough investigation into the killing of the lawmaker.
Somali Police Force announced it is launching investigations into the heinous attack, the kind of which continue to plague the Somali society for so long.
The UN and European Union also condemned the suicide attack and extended their condolences, welcoming an investigation into the heinous act, and called for Somalia’s electoral process to be concluded peacefully and safely.
This period bears a striking resemblance of the same last election period of 2016, when many lawmakers lost their lives in the months leading up to the election, some are believed to be politically motivated although in the ongoing Somali conflict, it is ever hard to prove beyond a reasonable doubt of who killed who and because of what due to the decades long failure of every conceivable recourse.
This also comes against the backdrop of Somali Security Forces earlier in the day reportedly killing 2 armed men who tried to attack a heavily fortified compound adjacent to the Marine Gate of the capital’s International Airport.
The attack happened at the heavily fortified Halane base at the Aden Adde International Airport that hosts peacekeepers, foreign diplomatic missions, the offices of UN organizations, and NGOs. The same site also plays host to the hangar in which presidential elections have in the past and are still slated to happen in. The extremist group Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for this attack on the airport.
