Somalia arrests 14 for deadly attack at Mogadishu military camp

By Mohammed Dhaysane

BAIDOA, Somalia (AA) - Somali authorities said Saturday that 14 people have been arrested for a deadly suicide bombing that targeted a military training facility in the capital of Mogadishu earlier this month.

The attack occurred inside the Jaalle Siyad military training facility and killed more than 30 people, including new military recruits and personnel.

Deputy Defense Minister Abdifatah Kasim said authorities made the arrests that included soldiers and senior commanders, and the commander of the academy.

Kasim told the federal parliament a joint security committee, including the national intelligence, security agency and the army are investigating the July 25 suicide attack.

Federal Parliament Speaker Adan Mohamed Nur Madobe said last week that traitors inside the military camp may be responsible for the “treacherous attack.” He demanded an urgent investigation.

The attack sparked mass protests in Marka, the provincial capital of the Lower Shabelle region, where the majority of recruits were said to have originated.

Al-Shabaab terrorists claimed responsibility for the attack and said it killed 73 soldiers and wounded more than 120 others.

The terror group has doubled attacks since Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mahamud, elected for a second term last year, declared an “all-out war” on al-Shabaab.

The group has since lost large swaths of territory in central regions, including the coastal town of Haradhere, which had been under the militants’ control for more than a decade.

Somalia has been plagued by insecurity for years, with the main threats emanating from al-Shabaab and the Daesh/ISIS terror groups.

Since 2007, the group has been fighting the Somali government and the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS), a multidimensional mission authorized by the African Union and mandated by the United Nations Security Council.

On Oct. 14, 2017, a truck full of explosives caused a massive blast at the busy Zoobe intersection in Mogadishu, killing more than 600 people and wounding nearly 1,000 -- the worst terror attack in the country’s history.