A suicide car bomb exploded near Somalia's Foreign Ministryon Tuesday, killing at least four people even as Somali and Kenyan leaders metand agreed to cooperate on military action against Islamist insurgents.
The blast rattled central Mogadishu and killed at leastthree passers-by and the suicide bomber, said police official Ali Hassan. Sixpeople were wounded and taken to the hospital, he said.
The explosion did not damage the ministry building but didtear down a stone wall in front of it. Hundreds of on-lookers gathered to seethe demolished car scattered across the road. Several body parts littered thestreet.
"The car bomb blew up among people and cars passingdown the street. I don't know if his target was the civilians, but thanks toAllah the loss was not so big," said Mohamed Nor Siyaed, an eyewitness.
Abdikarim Sheikh Hussein, a university student in Mogadishu,said he was standing on the other side of the street when the explosionhappened. Bloodied textbooks were lying on the ground in the post-explosionruins.
"When the car blew up a ball of flame and smokeengulfed the whole area, then some wounded people ran through the streets"he said.
African Union and Somali troops battling al-Shabab militantshave mostly pushed the insurgents out of Mogadishu, but al-Shabab has vowed tocarry out attacks in the capital. Earlier this month al-Shabab unleashed asuicide blast that killed more than 100 people, many of them students. It wasthe deadliest bombing in Somalia by al-Shabab.
The latest attacks have raised fears that al-Shabab istargeting everyone, not just government officials and African Unionpeacekeepers.
Hassan Jimale said he's now afraid to attend universityclasses, saying the education centers may again be targeted like the students.
"I am afraid the students themselves will bomb us inthe classes," Jimale said. "You can't know who's going to kill you!Women are veiled and men can hide explosive vests under their shirts."
Tuesday's blast came as Kenya's ministers of foreign affairsand defense traveled to Mogadishu to meet with Somalia's president followingKenya's launch of military operations in southern Somalia against al-Shababmilitants. The explosion occurred several miles (kilometers) from where thosemeetings are believed to have taken place.
Al-Shabab on Monday said it would launch terror attacksinside Kenya unless that country pulls back the hundreds of troops who havemoved in to southern Somalia in search of al-Shabab. In response, Kenyan policeon Tuesday sent out a terrorist attack warning and increased security at somedowntown sites, including the Somali neighborhood of Nairobi.
Somalia's government earlier this week said it did notapprove of Kenya's push into southern Somalia. But on Tuesday the two sidesagreed to coordinate their military operations in pursuit of al-Shababinsurgents after Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula met with PresidentSheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed.
"The recent spate of blatant attacks is indicative of achanged strategy by (al-Shabab) calculated to terrozie civilians," a jointKenyan-Somalia statement said. "This warrants decisive action to forestallthe threats ... restore security in the border areas and ensure that insurgentsdo not launch attacks against Kenya, the region and beyond."
Kenya said it launched its military action in response tothe kidnappings of four Europeans over the last six weeks, though militaryanalysts suspect that Kenya had prepared the invasion before the abductions.
The push by Kenyan ground forces toward a strategic Somalitown was slowed on Tuesday by heavy rain, Kenyan military spokesman Maj.Emmanuel Chirchir said. Kenyan troops and pro-Somali government forces are headingtoward the town of Afmadow, a crossroads town just north of the port city ofKismayo, where al-Shabab is entrenched.
Chirchir said Kenyan forces were at the Somali town ofQoqani, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Afmadow. Residents of Afmadow onMonday reported that al-Shabab fighters were leaving as the troops approached.
"Our troops are heading to Afmadow now, and we expectto capture it either today or tomorrow," Abdinasir Serar, a commander withthe pro-government Ras Kamboni militia told The Associated Press by phone fromQoqani.
Kenya moved two battalions of about 800 troops each acrossthe border in two locations, a Nairobi-based official said. Tanks, helicoptersand artillery have also been deployed. The invasion is the most significantforeign deployment of the Kenyan military since independence from Britain in1963.
Al-Shabab threatened on Monday to bring down Nairobiskyscrapers and referenced the July 2010 bomb attacks they masterminded inKampala, Uganda, that killed 76 people. Al-Shabab said the attacks wereretaliation for Uganda's troops contributions to the African Union peacekeepingforce in Mogadishu.