Suicide bomber targets police academy in Somali capital, leaving at least 15 dead
Suicide bomber targets police academy in Somali capital, leaving at least 15 dead
At least 15 police officers were killed and 17 injured on Thursday in the latest attack to rock the Somali capital, claimed by al-Shabaab militants.
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The General Kahiye Police Training Academy is the latest target of the al-Shabaab insurgency [Getty]
A suicide attacker disguised as a policeman carried out a deadly attack at a police training camp in Somalia's capital of Mogadishu on Thursday morning, killing at least 15.
All the victims are reportedly police officers, with at least 17 more injured.
The attacker infiltrated the General Kahiye Police Training Academy and detonated explosives strapped to his body during an early morning parade, according to police spokesman Major Mohamed Hussein.
The militant group al-Shabaab have claimed responsibility for the attack, quoting a higher death toll.
"We killed 27 police (officers) and injured more," Abdiasis Abu Musab, the group's military operations spokesman, told Reuters.
The al-Qaeda-affiliated group have been carrying out an intesifying wave of attacks across Somalia as part of its insurgency against the UN-backed government and its African Union allies.
In October, the group carried out a devastating truck bomb attack that left more than 500 dead, becoming the deadliest terror attack in Somalia's history.
All the victims are reportedly police officers, with at least 17 more injured.
The attacker infiltrated the General Kahiye Police Training Academy and detonated explosives strapped to his body during an early morning parade, according to police spokesman Major Mohamed Hussein.
The militant group al-Shabaab have claimed responsibility for the attack, quoting a higher death toll.
"We killed 27 police (officers) and injured more," Abdiasis Abu Musab, the group's military operations spokesman, told Reuters.
The al-Qaeda-affiliated group have been carrying out an intesifying wave of attacks across Somalia as part of its insurgency against the UN-backed government and its African Union allies.
In October, the group carried out a devastating truck bomb attack that left more than 500 dead, becoming the deadliest terror attack in Somalia's history.
The jihadi group were expelled from Mogadishu in 2011 and have since been losing territory in other parts of the country to African Union peacekeeping forces and Somali security forces.
The attacks coincide with the African Union's plans to scale down its peacekeeping mission in Somalia, as part of a long term plan to pull out of the country and hand over to Somalia's own security force.
The peacekeeping mission, which consists of 22,000 troops, was first established a decade ago to support efforts to establish a government in the wake of Somalia's civil war in the early 1990s.
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