Car bomber kills 5 in Somali capital

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Five people were killed Sunday morning when a suicide bomber attempted to ram a car laden with explosives into a military convoy escorting a four-member Qatari delegation, an official said.

Gen. Garad Nor Abdulle, a senior police official said the members of the Qatari delegation were unharmed and safely reached their hotel.

Mohamed Abdi, an officer at the scene of the blast, said four civilians and a soldier died in the attack.

Soldiers fired in the air to disperse crowds that had gathered at the blast site at the busy KM4 junction.

The Somali government reopened key roads in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, four days ago which had been closed for security reasons. The road was closed after the government received intelligence that militants were planning attacks, officials said.

KM4 is among the busiest roads in Mogadishu, largely used by government officials and African Union forces. It connects the presidential compound and other government offices to the airport.

The car bombing falls into a pattern of attacks blamed on the Islamic extremist group al-Shabab, which has been pushed out of much of the areas it occupied in South and Central Somalia by African Union troops.

Al-Shabab once controlled almost all of Mogadishu. African Union and Somali forces pushed the radical rebels out of the city in 2011, but the fighters have continued to carry out bomb attacks.

Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for an attack on Somali's Supreme Court last month that killed 35, including nine attackers.

Somalia's prime minister said that several experienced foreign fighters took part in attack on the Supreme Court, the most serious Islamic extremist attack on Mogadishu in years, while other officials indicated the explosive devices were more advanced than normal, a possible indication of greater involvement by al-Qaida. The attack included six suicide bombings and two car bombs.

Al-Shabab boasts several hundred foreign fighters, including some from the Middle East with experience in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. Al-Shabab also recruits fighters from Somali communities in the United States and Europe.

In March, an explosives-filled car targeting a truck of government officials hit a civilian car and exploded, setting a mini-bus on fire and killing at least seven.

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Car bomber kills 7 in Somali capital

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Seven people were killed Sunday morning when a suicide bomber attempted to ram a car laden with explosives into a military convoy escorting a four-member Qatari delegation.

Gen. Garad Nor Abdulle, a senior police official said the members of the Qatari delegation who were being escorted in the interior minister's convoy were unharmed and safely reached their hotel.

Abdulle said the interior minister was not in the convoy.

Mohamed Abdi, an officer at the scene of the blast, said four civilians and a soldier died immediately. Another two people died in hospital and 18 were being treated of wounds from the blast, said Dr. Duniya Mohamed Ali at the Medina hospital.

The Qatari delegates are involved in development projects in Mogadishu, Somali president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said.

Mohamud blamed al-Qaida-linked Somali militant group al-Shabab for the attack.

He said "suspects" have been arrested.

After the explosion soldiers fired in the air to disperse crowds that had gathered at the blast site at the busy KM4 junction.

Separately, four Somali soldiers were wounded Sunday when a roadside bomb struck a government vehicle in Deynile district, in Mogadishu's northwest, said Ali Jimale, a captain with the Somali police.

The Somali government reopened key roads in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, four days ago which had been closed for security reasons. The roads were closed after the government received intelligence that militants were planning attacks, officials said.

KM4 is among the busiest roads in Mogadishu, largely used by government officials and African Union forces. It connects the presidential compound and other government offices to the airport.

The car bombing falls into a pattern of attacks blamed on the Islamic extremist group al-Shabab, which has been pushed out of much of the areas it occupied in South and Central Somalia by African Union troops.

Condemning Sunday's attack, the U.N. representative to Somalia, Augustine P. Mahiga said cowardly and senseless acts of violence will not undermine the remarkable progress Somalia has made in the past months.

"Attacks against civilians are never justifiable. I call on all parties to renounce violence and contribute positively to peace and stability," he said.

The British government condemned the attack through its Minister for Africa Mark Simmonds.

He said incidents such as these demonstrate the importance of the Federal Government of Somalia and international partners working together to combat violent extremism in Somalia.

Next week's Somalia Conference in London, co-hosted by the British and the Federal Government of Somalia will provide international support to help build Somali capacity to increase peace and stability, said Simmonds.

Al-Shabab once controlled almost all of Mogadishu. African Union and Somali forces pushed the radical rebels out of the city in 2011, but the fighters have continued to carry out bomb attacks.

Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for an attack on Somali's Supreme Court last month that killed 35, including nine attackers.

Somalia's prime minister said that several experienced foreign fighters took part in attack on the Supreme Court, the most serious Islamic extremist attack on Mogadishu in years, while other officials indicated the explosive devices were more advanced than normal, a possible indication of greater involvement by al-Qaida. The attack included six suicide bombings and two car bombs.

Al-Shabab boasts several hundred foreign fighters, including some from the Middle East with experience in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. Al-Shabab also recruits fighters from Somali communities in the United States and Europe.

In March, an explosives-filled car targeting a truck of government officials hit a civilian car and exploded, setting a mini-bus on fire and killing at least seven.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991 when warlords overthrew longtime dictator Siad Barre and turned on each other, plunging the impoverished nation into chaos.

President Mohamud was elected by parliament in October at the end of the eight-year U.N.-backed transitional government.

The U.N.-backed political process that resulted in Mohamud's election was condemned by Islamist militants who said it was manipulated by the West. But Mohamud has the support of the international community, which wants him to succeed and bring stability to the troubled Horn of Africa nation.

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Associated Press Writer Cassandra Vinograd contributed to this report from London.

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Mali army: Suicide bomber kills 1 in Timbuktu

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — A suicide car bomber killed a soldier near Timbuktu's airport, officials said Thursday, the first such attack in the fabled city where French forces ousted Islamic extremists from power almost two months ago.

The renewed violence heightens security concerns as the French military seeks to hand over its mission to African forces.

Capt. Samba Coulibaly said one Malian soldier was killed and eight others were wounded in the attack Wednesday night.

French military spokesman Col. Thierry Burkhard in Paris said a vehicle containing two jihadists exploded as it attempted to infiltrate the airport.

Following the suicide bombing, French forces came to help the Malian military. The French attacked a vehicle and two Malian soldiers suffered minor injuries, said the French spokesman.

"A French jet was scrambled to support the Malian troops and struck a Malian vehicle, either because it was too close or it was poorly marked," he said.

The French-led operation that began in January ousted the radical Islamic fighters from the major towns in northern Mali, though many of the extremists went into hiding in the desert.

While they have launched attacks in the northern Mali towns of Gao and Kidal, Wednesday's suicide bombing marked the first such violence in Timbuktu, which was once a thriving tourist town.

The attack also fuels fears that the Islamic militants will simply regroup once the French start withdrawing troops and handing over security to an African force.

France — a former colonial ruler of Mali — has said it has no intention of keeping troops in Mali for the long term.

France had originally planned on starting to draw down troops in late March, but French President Francois Hollande now says that the gradual pullout of France's 4,000 troops will start in April.

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Associated Press writer Greg Keller in Paris contributed to this report.

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Suicide bomber kills 2 in northwestern Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber blew himself up near a police van in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing at least two people, police said.

Local police official Zaheer Khan said 10 people were also wounded in the attack in the district of Bannu in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan. Initial reports suggested the attacker was on foot and targeted a police van near a police station, Khan said.

Khan said rescuers transported the dead and wounded to a nearby hospital, where some of the injured were listed in critical condition.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but suspicion fell on Pakistani Taliban who often target police and security forces deployed there. The district of Bannu is located just outside the North Waziristan tribal region where several Pakistani, Afghan and al-Qaida-linked militant groups are based.

In a separate incident, a bomb disposal expert died Tuesday while defusing a roadside bomb in the northwestern city of Peshawar, senior police official Javed Khan said. He said it was unclear who had planted that bomb, and officers were still investigating.

Meanwhile, gunmen shot and killed a senior official of the Election Commission of Pakistan in the southwestern city of Quetta on Tuesday, the city's deputy police chief Fayaz Sumbal said. He said the slain official, Zia Ullah, was driving through the city in his car at the time.

No one claimed responsibility for the assassination. It was the first such attack against officials from the ECP ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections, which are hugely significant for Pakistan because they will mark the first time a civilian government has completed a full five-year term and transferred power through the ballot box.

In Pakistan, past governments have been ousted in military coups or dismissed by presidents allied with top generals.

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Associated Press Writer Abdul Sattar contributed to this report from Quetta.

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Somalia: Suicide bomber and diner killed in attack

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — A suicide bomber detonated explosives inside a seaside restaurant in Somalia's capital on Friday, killing himself and one diner, a police official said.

Six others were wounded in the blast, which upended tables and destroyed one of the restaurant's walls, said Yusuf Ali, the captain of Mogadishu's police. A car bomb was also remotely detonated at the restaurant's gates, he said.

The bomber attacked a restaurant called Indian Ocean, one of Mogadishu's most expensive restaurants, where an order of lobster costs about $25. In mid-February a bomber attacked a restaurant next to Indian Ocean; only the bomber was killed.

Such attacks are typically carried out by the al-Qaida-linked militant group al-Shabab, which was forced out of Mogadishu in late 2011 but still carries out roadside bombings and suicide attacks.

The charred body of the bomber lay inside the restaurant; his head had been blown off.

Terrified customers steadily fled. One survivor called the bombing "a very terrible act."

"It means even civilians are legitimate targets," Mohamed Abdi said as he stepped out of the restaurant. "Why would someone decide to attack just a restaurant? Such attacks make me hopeless that there is any imminent peace in Mogadishu."

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Suicide bomber attacks Afghan army bus; 7 wounded

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan officials say a suicide bomber has attacked a bus carrying Afghan soldiers to work in the capital, wounding seven people.

The Kabul police chief's office says in a statement that the early morning blast in western Kabul came from a man on foot wearing a suicide vest who detonated his explosives as he approached the bus. Six of those wounded were soldiers and the seventh was a civilian. Spokesmen for the Defense Ministry and the Interior Ministry said no one was killed in the blast.

An Associated Press reporter at the site saw the bus damaged on one side. It appeared that the bomber had not entered the bus but blew himself up next to the vehicle.

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