Bomb attacks leave six dead in south Somalia

At least six people have been killed and 17 others injured as two coordinated bomb explosions ripped through a region in southwestern Somalia, Press TV reports. The first blast took place at a restaurant in the town of Garbaharey, the capital of Gedo region and situated 528 kilometers (328 miles) southwest of the Somali capital Mogadishu, on Sunday, killing three people, among them transitional government soldiers. Ten other people suffered various degrees of injury as a result of the explosion. “The restaurant was packed with people, mainly government officials and troops, at the time of the blast. I saw three dead bodies on the ground as wounded people were being taken out, Abdi Dhuurgal, a witness, told Press TV. Shortly later, a remote-controlled explosive device was set off inside a market, killing three more people. Local officials said the blast apparently targeted Ethiopian and Somali soldiers, who were patrolling the area. They added that a prominent elder was among the dead, and the wounded victims have been rushed to the main hospital in the town. Meanwhile, al-Shabab militants have claimed responsibility for the acts of terror, saying that they could cause extensive structural damage to strategic and important facilities in Garbaharey. Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. The weak Western-backed transitional government in Mogadishu has been battling al-Shabab fighters for the past five years and is propped up by thousands of African Union soldiers from Uganda, Burundi, and Djibouti.