Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was unharmed after suspected Al Shabaab militants attacked his convoy with explosives in the capital Mogadishu on Tuesday, in what is believed to be the first direct assassination attempt on him in over a decade.
Two senior Somali officials, one military and one civilian, told Reuters the president was safe. Presidential adviser Zakaria Hussein wrote on X that Mohamud was “safe and well, en route to the frontlines.”
Residents and soldiers at the scene confirmed that the presidential convoy had been targeted near the presidential palace, known as Villa Somalia, in the Hamar Jajab district. A Reuters journalist saw at least four bodies near the site of the explosion.
The Al Qaeda-linked militant group Al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on its Telegram channel, saying: “Our fighters targeted a convoy of vehicles transporting Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as he departed the presidential palace heading to the airport.”
The blast destroyed one of the vehicles escorting the president and damaged a nearby building, according to Somalia’s National Security Adviser Hussein Sheikh Ali.
Al Shabaab frequently stages deadly attacks across Somalia as part of its long-standing insurgency to overthrow the government. However, Tuesday’s bombing marked the first direct attempt on Mohamud’s life since 2014, during his first presidential term, when militants shelled a hotel where he was giving a speech.
Despite the attack, state media later aired images of President Mohamud visiting the frontline in Aden Yabal, in Somalia’s Middle Shabelle region, where government forces have been battling an ongoing Al Shabaab offensive for the past three weeks.
Separately, Somali forces killed more than 120 Al Shabaab fighters during air and ground raids in the town of Jilib in Middle Juba on Saturday, the Somali News Agency reported on Tuesday. At least 20 field commanders were reportedly killed and several militant bases destroyed, including bomb-making workshops, weapons depots, and training camps, the military said.
The Somali army said Monday that the operation had also struck the group’s command center in Jilib, dealing a blow to its operational capabilities.
