A suspected bomb blast killed five women outside a busy market in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Tuesday, witnesses said. Residents said an explosive device was apparently detonated by the burning of garbage in the city’s central Howlwadag area. “Five died, I could not count the wounded. They were all women who were cleaning the streets,” said Hawa Ibrahim, a cleaner who witnessed the blast. “We will stop the clean-up exercise. No one is willing to die for cleaning the street.” Businesswoman Hawa Jama described an “ugly scene”.
“I could not count the dead, I just glanced at once and ran away for my life,” she told Reuters.
The latest blast came after heavy clashes overnight in the north and south of the city between suspected Islamist fighters, police and Ethiopian troops. A senior policeman in the north said assailants armed with machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and artillery mounted on trucks attacked police in Horuwa, an Islamist stronghold.