Somali militants attacked the presidential convoy
Bomb blast near president's residence in Somalia
BY ADAMU ALIYU NGULDE, MAIDUGURI AMINATOU ALKASSOUM AGADEZ
Al-Shabaab militants attacked Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud's motorcade with a bomb in Mogadishu.
Two senior government and military officials told Reuters that President Mohamud was safe after the attack.
Presidential advisor Zakariye Hussein also posted on X that Mohamud was "good and well on his way to the front lines."
Witnesses, including soldiers and local residents, confirmed that the president's convoy was attacked.
A Reuters journalist at the scene saw four bodies near the presidential palace.
Al-Shabaab claimed in a Telegram statement that their fighters attacked a convoy carrying Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as it left the presidential palace for the airport.
Although al-Shabaab frequently attacks Somalia as part of its long-running campaign to overthrow the government, Tuesday's attack was the first to directly target President Mohamud since a 2014 attack on a hotel where he was speaking during his first term.
Hours after Tuesday's attack, state media showed the president in Somalia's Middle Shabelle region's Adan Yabal district, where government forces are fighting a three-week-long al-Shabaab offensive.
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