Bomber hugs official, blows them both up

A suicide bomber put his arms around an official as if in a hug and blew both of them up in the Somali region of Puntland, officials said.

Mogadishu - An Islamist militant suicide bomber put his arms around a local official as if in a hug and blew both of them up in the autonomous Somali region of Puntland on Thursday, officials said.

The Islamist militant group al-Shabaab, which frequently targets officials in its bid to overthrow the Western-backed Somali government, issued a statement taking responsibility for the attack.

“We killed Saeed Ali, the treasurer of Galkayo, and several police officers that were guarding him,” Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, al-Shabaab's military operation spokesman, told Reuters.

Major Nur Ahmed, a police officer, told Reuters that Saeed Ali and the guards had been targeted as they attempted to enter a car.

Witnesses said that two bystanders also died in the blast, but officials could not immediately confirm that.

Reuters