A bomb exploded early Monday inside a bus carrying United Nations employees in northern Somalia , killing at least five people and wounding others, police said.
A bomb attack targeted a bus carrying workers to a United Nations compound in the northern Somali town of Garowe, the capital of the country’s Puntland province, on April 20. The militant group al-Shabbab claimed responsibility for the attack. Photo: Facebook/Fahad Bisle
The bomb had been planted under a seat and appeared to have been detonated by remote control as it was entering a U.N. compound in the town of Garowe, said police chief Col. Yasin Gure.
At least five people were killed and others were wounded, Col, Gure said, though he didn’t have information about their nationalities.
The bus was used by the United Nations Children’s Fund.
Nicholas Kay, the U.N. representative for Somalia, condemned the attack, saying he was “shocked and appalled” by the loss of life. He didn’t give details on the victims or on the assault.
Attacks from al-Shabaab in Somalia’s capital city of Mogadishu and other southern areas are common, but the militants rarely attack in the semiautonomous region of Puntland, which has declared itself independent of Somalia. The group has, however, made the U.N. mission in Somalia a regular target.
Abdiasis abu Musab, a spokesman for the militant group, said they attacked the bus because of the U.N.’s support of the African Union troops in Somalia—which have retaken a swaths of territory from al-Shabaab over the past year.
—Abdalle Ahmed Mumin in Nairobi contributed to this article.
Write to Heidi Vogt at heidi.vogt@wsj.com
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