MOGADISHU (Reuters) – A car bomb hit a convoy of cars carrying Qatari officials through the center of Somalia’s capital Mogadishu on Sunday, killing at least eight Somalis, officials said.

The visiting delegation of Qataris, who were travelling in the Somali interior minister’s bullet-proof vehicle, were “safe”, a security officer told Reuters, without going into further detail. The minister was not in the car at the time.

MOGADISHU, April 15 (Reuters) – Somali militants linked to
al Qaeda warned on Monday of further attacks in the capital, a
day after killing at least 30 people in a wave of coordinated
bombings and shootings that exposed the fragility of security
gains in Mogadishu.

African peacekeeping troops blocked off streets and searched
houses across the city at dawn on Monday to flush out suspected
members of the Islamist militant group al Shabaab which claimed
responsibility for the strikes.

MOGADISHU (Reuters) – At least four people were killed as two car bombs exploded outside the law courts in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu and gunmen stormed the building on Sunday, before a gunbattle erupted with security forces besieging the building, witnesses said.

It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack, but al Shabaab militants linked to al Qaeda have claimed responsibility for a number of suicide bombs in Mogadishu this year.

MOGADISHU (Reuters) – A suicide car bomber killed at least 10 people on Monday in the worst attack in the Somali capital this year when he tried to kill Mogadishu’s security chief near the presidential palace, police and rebels said.

Al Qaeda-linked Islamist militant group al Shabaab said it carried out the attack along Maka al Mukarram road that runs between the palace and the national theatre, a route lined by tearooms that were engulfed in fire from the blast.

MOGADISHU, March 17 (Reuters) – A Somali judge on Sunday
freed a journalist who was jailed last month for interviewing an
alleged gang-rape victim in a case that sparked international
condemnation over how Somali authorities treat victims of sexual
violence and press freedom.

Human rights groups said the February trial of gang rape
victim Luul Ali Osman and freelance journalist Abdiaziz Abdinur
was politically motivated, aimed at covering up rampant sexual
abuse of women by the security forces.

MOGADISHU (Reuters) – Suicide bombers killed a civilian at a beach front restaurant in the Somali capital on Friday, officials said, underscoring how fragile security remains 18 months after African troops drove Islamist militants out of the city.

Ali Abdi, a waiter at Mogadishu’s Indian Ocean restaurant, said one bomber wearing a vest laden with explosives walked inside and blew himself up moments before a car bomb exploded a few meters away.

MOGADISHU (Reuters) – Kenyan defense officials said on Friday they would not negotiate with Somali militants linked to al Qaeda who said they executed a Kenyan army private at midnight on Thursday.

The al Shabaab militants, who want to impose a strict version of sharia, or Islamic law, said they killed the soldier after the expiry of an ultimatum for the release of Muslims held by Kenya on terror charges.

MOGADISHU (Reuters) – Somali militants linked to al Qaeda said they executed a Kenyan army private at midnight on Thursday after the expiry of an ultimatum for the release of Muslims held by Kenya on terror charges.

The al Shabaab militants, who want to impose a strict version of sharia, or Islamic law, also said they were extending the execution deadline by 72 hours for five other hostages.

MOGADISHU (Reuters) – A Somali judge on Tuesday jailed a woman who said she had been raped by soldiers and a journalist who interviewed her, finding them guilty of making up the story to besmirch the government.

The verdict and one-year jail sentences drew condemnation from Somalia’s union of journalists. Human rights groups have called the trial politically motivated, aimed at covering up rampant sexual abuse of women by the security forces.