Suicide attack leaves at least 17 causalities in Somalia

SANAA, Dec. 22 (YPA) – A car bomb exploded on Saturday outside a hotel in Galkayo city in the central province of Mudug, killing at least seven civilians and injuring others, a Somali army officer said.

Major Ali Omar said the driver failed to enter the hotel complex, causing him to collide with a military vehicle parked near a security checkpoint.

“So far, we know that seven people have been killed, mostly civilians, but the death toll could rise,” he added

More than a dozen others were injured, most of them Somali soldiers, a medic at Galkayo Hospital said.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the bombing.

The radical Islamist group Al-Shabaab, which seeks to overthrow the central government, controls small parts of Mudug province, but does not control Galkayo, according to Reuters.

E.M