Two killed in Mogadishu’s Bakaro market blast

A suspected member of the Al-Shabaab group lobbed a hand grenade into Bakaro market in Mogadishu on Tuesday, killing two and wounded one civilian, witnesses and police said.

“A suspected member of Al-Shabab fighters…carried out the attack on a busy market and…managed to escape…killing two people and injured one person” said a police officer in Bakaro market.

A witness said that the blast occurred when a suspected Al Shabaab assailant has thrown a hand grenade into a group of Somali government soldiers collecting tax from business centers in Bakaro market

“When the grenade went off, I was shocked and ducked for a minute, then I saw at least two  bodies people on the ground and an injured man  lying beside the road,” said Mahada Haaji, who said she saw the attack from her water vending stand.

Another witness said an old man asking for money was the injured.

“He was a poor, old beggar whom I used to see begging along the streets of the market for more than five years I have been here, and now he sustained injuries,” said Abdullahi Nuur, a businessman who runs a shop in the market.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack, but because it has the hallmarks of al-Shabab militants, local authorities have blamed the militants.