Suicide bomb kills several at Somali Army camp

Doctors and nurses treat injure youth at the Somali Sudanese Hospital in Mogadishu on May 18, 2025
| Photo Credit: AFP

Several people were killed and others wounded when a suicide bomber thought to be from Al-Shabab targeted an Army recruitment centre in Mogadishu on Sunday (May 18, 2025), Somali authorities and witnesses said.

The attacker, disguised as a civilian, detonated explosives outside the Xero Damaayo camp in southern Mogadishu at 9:20 a.m. (1150 IST), the Information Ministry said.

“Casualties have been reported but details are still being verified,” the Ministry said.

“Security forces are on the scene and have launched an investigation.”

Islamist militant group Al-Shabab, which is linked to Al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the bombing.

“The Mujahidin carried out an explosion targeting apostates who stayed in front of Xero Damaanyo in Mogadishu’s Hodon district. They were enlisting to join the forces,” the group said.

Witnesses described scenes of chaos and casualties near the blast site.

Adan Yare, a Tuktuk driver who was passing close to the area, said the road had been crowded with civilians when the explosion occurred, with people waiting queuing to enter the military camp.

“I was very lucky because when explosion occurred, I had already driven past the area.”

“The explosion shook my Tuktuk and when I stopped and looked back, there was several people lying (on the ground), some of them dead and others wounded,” he said.

Another witness, Saalim Nur, said he saw the bodies of five civilians.

“I was in a minibus. We were about a few hundred metres (yards) away from the scene when the explosion occurred.”

“The whole area has become rubble, with stones and sand flying,” he said.

Somalia has suffered a resurgence of attacks by Al-Shabab in recent months.

The group, which is fighting to overthrow the government, has intensified its campaign in the impoverished and climate-vulnerable country.

In March, Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for a bomb that narrowly missed the presidential convoy in Mogadishu, and in April, militants fired mortar shells near the capital’s airport.