At least 20 people were killed and more than a dozen wounded on Sunday morning when a suicide bomber targeted a military recruitment center in Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, in an attack claimed by the al-Qaida-linked militant group al-Shabab.
The blast occurred at the Damaanyo military base in the capital’s Hodan district, where hundreds of youth had gathered to enlist in the Somali National Army. The bomber was intercepted near the entrance before reaching the main crowd but detonated his explosives, killing 15 recruits and five nearby civilians.
Local hospitals reported that several of the wounded are in critical condition, with the death toll expected to rise.
“This cowardly attack will not derail our efforts to rebuild a strong national army,” the Ministry of Information said in a statement, adding that investigations are ongoing and the public should await official updates.
Eyewitnesses recounted moments of panic and confusion as the attacker emerged from a tuk-tuk and ran into the queue before detonating the explosives. “It was chaos—bodies on the ground, screams, smoke everywhere,” one survivor told local reporters.
Security officials confirmed that the attack closely resembles previous bombings targeting military recruitment centers. In 2023, a similar explosion at the nearby Jale Siyad base left 25 soldiers dead.
The bombing comes on the heels of the assassination of Col. Abdirahmaan Hujaale, commander of Battalion 26, in Hiiraan region, further intensifying fears of al-Shabab’s growing ability to penetrate Somalia’s security structures.
In response to Sunday’s violence, Egypt, Jordan, and other regional governments condemned the attack, calling for unified efforts to combat terrorism in the Horn of Africa.
Meanwhile, Somali security forces announced that they had killed 70 al-Shabab fighters in recent military operations in central regions. The operations are part of ongoing campaigns aimed at weakening the group’s territorial control and disrupting its recruitment network.
Al-Shabab has waged a violent insurgency against the Somali government for over 16 years, frequently targeting army facilities, public spaces, and political leaders to destabilize the state and impose its hardline ideology.
Authorities in Mogadishu have pledged to enhance security around military installations and civilian areas in response to the latest attack.