A suicide bomber has blown himself up at a military academy west of Somalia’s capital, killing at least five soldiers, a military officer says.
The bomber dressed in a military uniform walked into the Somali military training camp on Monday morning and detonated explosives strapped to his waist near soldiers and officers, Colonel Abdi Hassan said.
The bomber, posing as a military trainee, had crossed the gate checkpoint and targeted soldiers and officers resting after their daily military exercises.
Somalia’s Islamic extremist rebels, al-Shabaab, have claimed responsibility for the attack.
In a separate incident on Monday, a government worker was killed after a bomb in his car was detonated by remote control in Mogadishu’s Hamarweyne district, police say.
Abdikadir Osman, an officer with the education minister immediately died before medics took to a hospital.
Al-Shabaab, which is allied to al-Qaida, has stepped up its campaign of bombings in Mogadishu in recent weeks.
New President Mohmed Abdullahi Mohamed has named a new military chief and other officials in an attempt to improve the worsening security situation.